


Book 5: Between Darkness and Light

by DevinCx, piratenami



Series: Knights of the Old Republic: Outcasts [9]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/F, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Non-Explicit Sex, Non-Graphic Violence, Original Character-centric, Space Opera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-07-15 18:26:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 51,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16068782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevinCx/pseuds/DevinCx, https://archiveofourown.org/users/piratenami/pseuds/piratenami
Summary: The crew of the Wanderer has been through a lot, but their greatest test lays before them. Master Valen Kell stands ready to wrest order from the Galaxy’s chaos, but will this new era be one of light, or darkness?And what of the Bladedancer? What of the simple girl who stands at the center of all things? Can she find her way back home, or will she become a pawn in Kell's plan?





	1. Doubt

The Council Chamber of the Jedi Order occupied a circular room near the top of the tallest tower of the Temple on Coruscant.

It consisted of a ring of seats around a central area that concealed a hologram projector. The seats varied in number, from a mere five at this time, to as many as three dozen, or so the legends said.

It was to this chamber that the Jedi known as Rhade went with purpose upon his arrival on the capital world of the Republic.

His master, Valen Kell — the core of the Order itself — stood before the massive curving windows across the chamber, his back to Rhade and deep in thought on the city vista of Coruscant laid before him.

"Master," Rhade said, bowing low. "I have returned to you."

"My true Padawan," Kell said without turning. "It has been too long."

"Indeed, Master. I am now free of the shackles of... I am now free."

"Bladedancer's kin?"

Always, Master Kell was concerned with the damn girl. Rhade sighed. "Given over to Master Quinn's ministrations, per your order."

Kell was silent a long moment. The setting sun dyed his brilliant white robes a pale crimson that darkened to the hue of blood as the sun sank lower and the darkness grew. At length, he spoke again, his voice a familiar rasp. "I foresaw your emergence, I think. I was granted a vision recently. A great returning or ending, I could not tell, but perhaps you have been both."

"A return to myself and the end of the sham of a person I was forced to hide behind?"

Kell made a gurgling rumble that might have been a chuckle had his throat not been a mass of scar tissue. "You cannot even say his name, can you?"

"Why should I? He was a fiction. A cloak to conceal my true self."

"And yet, you cannot say his name."

Rhade grimaced. "No."

"Your emergence was... disquieting."

"How so, Master?"

Now, Kell did turn to face him. "What we do, my apprentice, takes us closer to the dark side than any should dare to tread. But you... you go further than any of us have. Not in pursuit of the vision, but to sate your own desires."

"The Twi'lek would have revealed my true allegiance before I was ready, as would the Mandalorian."

"So their deaths were... what? Necessary? Is that what you claim?"

"It is."

"And yet, you could not slay the Twi'lek, could you?"

"I-"

Kell's voice descended to icy anger. "You raised the Force against her, and it rebelled. It would not answer your call. Ask yourself, Shadow, why was that?"

Without a further word, Kell turned and left Rhade in the deepening darkness.

***

Renn Falani sat alone at his computer in the cockpit of the Wanderer. He was juggling three different tasks simultaneously across the multiple displays that he had at his workstation.

In his primary display, he was changing the ship's ID, finally getting to use the transponder which he'd installed during the repairs after Castell.

He was also working on a new identity for Meena on the screen to his right. Maybe he was being extra paranoid, but Aeron knew about the first one they'd set up. Now that the Jedi had stabbed them in the back, that original false identity would no longer be safe to use. So Renn was creating yet another new one for her, which would become the ship’s owner under its own new ID. All to help further hide them from the Republic and, specifically, the Jedi.

On his third display, to the left, he had plotted the vector of the Emancipator, the Republic warship that spirited Aeron and Kara from Ekibo. Renn had a program running in the background to calculate all possible destinations along that vector. There were a few dozen different possibilities for where the ship had gone.

Renn had his own theories on where Aeron would take Kara. His first guess would have been Solara, where the Jedi Academy was. But now, Aeron's Masters were setting themselves up in the heart of the Republic's government. That probably meant the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. He'd bet on the latter, actually; it would be well-defended and hard to approach. And if the Jedi Masters specifically wanted Kara, they'd want to keep her close so they could control her. She was what they'd wanted since the beginning of all this almost two years ago. He cursed himself for not realizing that sooner.

Of course, those were both obvious. The Jedi would know that, too. So maybe they'd hide her somewhere else.

The problem was, it would take time that they didn't have to physically investigate all the possibilities. The longer the Jedi had Kara, the worse they might do to her. He was going to have to figure out the right destination, and quickly.

Which meant he needed to stop thinking in circles, and find out exactly where the Emancipator went after it left Trianii space.

He returned to working on the Wanderer's new transponder ID. Having tasks to complete gave him something to do besides worry about what was happening to Kara, about what they might be doing to hurt her....

No. He couldn't think about that now. She was strong enough to resist them and come back to him whole. He had to believe that.

He did believe it.

He missed her desperately, though.

Everything on the ship reminded him of Kara. His bed — their bed — had just felt cold and lonely when he'd tried to get a little sleep earlier. Every place he went aboard the Wanderer now held memories of her. Even right here, where the two of them had often had long rambling discussions and late night chats, when he'd still been trying to dodge sleep.

He felt empty without her here. He hadn't felt like that in a very long time. He couldn't even feel the reassuring echo of her presence along their Force bond; she was too far away. It was almost as if she had never been there.

Renn pushed those feelings away. Later, he could deal with it. Right now, he needed to focus. If he screwed this up, it would affect everyone, not just himself or Kara. And it might destroy their chances at a rescue.

After another hour or so, the door to the cockpit opened and Liana stormed in. She'd been doing that a lot ever since they'd left Ekibo. She took her whole "accepting responsibility" thing seriously. She blamed herself for letting Kara be abducted, just as much as Renn did.

She all but threw herself into the pilot's seat and checked her instrumentation. "How is the ID change coming along?" she asked finally, after a moment's tense silence.

"I just finished Meena's new identity. I'm setting her up as the new owner for the ship now. It should be safe, but we might want to try it out somewhere first. Maybe stop for a resupply and make sure it holds up." As much as he wanted to charge straight in... wherever they were going, first he had to figure out where that was. He glanced over at his third display again, and tapped a few keys. "Interesting. I think I know just the spot to stop."

"Where is that?" Liana asked, tail lashing. She looked over at his displays.

"We can't figure out the Emancipator's final destination just from their vector. They didn't make a straight jump. It looks like they stopped at a planet called Estaria first. It's on a major trade route, so it wouldn't be strange as a resupply stop for a freighter. And..." Renn tapped a few more times, bringing up more information about the planet. "There's a Republic base and shipyard there. I'm willing to bet I can find out where the Emancipator went from their computer systems."

Liana's eyes narrowed. "All right. Plot the course."

Renn nodded. Closing the other two windows, he started the navicomputer calculations for the jump to Estaria.

***

"Listen to me, you infernal machine! I am kriffing fine! If you come near me with one more probe, needle, or pokey bit of metal, I will reforge _you_ into a bedpan! And I'll leave your pain circuits locked _on_ while I do it! Are we clear?!"

B4 looked startled and attempted to apologize. "Miss, I have to perform a scan...."

Before Cait could protest again, Meena stood up from her chair. "Cait! He's only doing his job!" She planted her hands on her hips, giving the other woman an angry look. Her throat was still a little sore, and her voice still sounded rough, but she kept talking despite all that. "He has to make sure you don't have an aneurysm. Do you know what that means? If you have one, you could be just walking around one day and fall over dead. So you are going to sit there quietly and not pout, or protest, or twitch. You _will_ let him do his job or, so help me, you and I will have _strong_ words. Are we clear?"

Cait's eyes went wide, and, on the other side of the medical bed, Gat shied away. "Sis, your girlfriend's scary sometimes."

Meena looked from Cait to Gat and snorted. Then she turned back to B4. "Please, continue."

The droid took up his scanning instruments again. "Of course, Miss Meena. Thank you."

Cait held up a single hand and Meena glared at her. "Wait, please?" she said softly. "Could you two... leave? It's just.... I don't...." She turned to face the wall, unable to hold Meena's eyes. "I don't like you seeing me like this. Injured and weak. I'll let B4 do his job, but... please?"

Meena came closer and placed a gentle hand on Cait's shoulder. "It's okay. But I will, if that's what you want."

Cait nodded, still unable to meet Meena's eyes.

"Come on, Meena," Gat said. "Let's go have a cup of tea or something and see what's on the holonet."

The Twi'lek sighed and let Cait's brother lead the way out of the medbay.

Outside in the main hold, Meena dropped onto the acceleration couch and turned on the holo-projector display. Right now she needed a distraction, to keep her from worrying over Cait. She flipped through the broadcasts until something caught her eye. Dancing. She stopped there and tucked her legs up under her.

"Oh!" she exclaimed after a moment, as she realized exactly what it was. It was a performance of the Stareyn Troupe, the dance troupe she'd always loved. Even better, she didn't think she'd seen this one before.

Gat vaulted neatly over the arm of the couch and landed next to Meena. "Oh, this is a new one. Hey!" he added brightly. "Daleshia seems to have recovered from her ankle surgery nicely. She was so worried about rehab...."

Meena turned her head to stare at him in disbelief. "You... know her?" she demanded.

"Yeah, I worked security and tech for them for the last few years. At least, right up until I was needed aboard the Phoenix."

"Wait... you _actually_ know them?!" She gasped. "Really?! Oh! Will you tell me about it? I mean, they're why I started dancing. I've been a fan since I was, like, eight years old."

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

"What _don't_ I want to know?" Meena countered, leaning forward eagerly. "What's it like travelling with them? Are they as nice as they seem in interviews?" Would she ever have a chance to get in? She didn't ask that last one out loud. She had bigger worries right now than her lack of a career.

"By and large, yeah. I mean, everyone has off days, and it's a real high-pressure environment. But I've never seen anyone in the troupe stay mad more than a day. When all this is over, I'll introduce you if you'd like."

Meena let out a very undignified squeal. "Really?! Would you?!"

"Gat," Cait said from behind them, "stop charming my girlfriend."

"Cait!" Meena sprang from the couch and gently hugged her. "Did B4...?"

"Clean bill of health. So... I'm ready to kick my little brother's ass for schmoozing you."

"What? I was not!" Gat said in indignation. "No schmoozing, I really do know them. Meena, I'd be happy to set you up with an intro, later. I don't want to get them in trouble with the law."

Meena nodded, still a little bit stunned.

"Yeah, yeah," Cait said. "We have a bigger, more immediate problem. Where's my stuff?"

"What stuff?" Gat asked.

Cait had been in medbay since they'd docked with the Wanderer after escaping Ekibo. The only clothes she had were her formal dress uniform, which was covered in her own blood, and the hospital gown she now wore. Personally, Meena rather admired the view, but Cait couldn't walk around in the thing forever.

"My. Stuff. Gatrius," Cait said again, enunciating each word carefully. "My clothes, blasters, armor, stuff like that?"

"Oh," Gat said, turning away. "I, uh... didn't bring it."

"You... you _what?!"_

"There wasn't time!" Gat protested.

"Cait," Meena said calmly, putting her hands on her lover's shoulders. "They had to leave in a hurry, just like we did. It's not his fault." She looked her over again. "You might be able to borrow some clothes from Rennie for now."

"Wait.... That means.... Gat, did you leave my beskar on the _Phoenix?!"_

Gat hung his head. "I'm sorry, Sis."

The wounded look on Cait's face rent Meena’s heart. She pulled her lover into a tight hug which Cait was too stunned to return. Meena wanted to tell her it was okay, but she wasn't sure such platitudes would be appreciated right now. She knew how important Cait's armor was to her.

Finally, Meena said, "We're still alive. That's the most important thing, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Cait said, trying to sound brave about it, but Meena could still see the hurt in her eyes.

"Come on," Meena said, pulling away a little and taking Cait's hands. "Let's try and find you something else to wear, okay?"

***

Renn awoke with a start. He couldn't even say what the nightmare had been, exactly. Just vague, ambiguous fears and terrors; nothing specific like the nightmare of the Silence, or of his beating at the hands of Tivosh and his men. He didn't even remember falling asleep. He'd just meant to rest his eyes for a few minutes.

He lay still for a moment, breathing hard, heart racing. Nearby, he heard a small trilling noise. He looked over to see Kara's little wyvern curled up on her pillow, watching him intently.

He reached out a cautious hand to stroke the bird's head. "I miss her, too," he said, voice soft. The wyvern cooed at him in response, and butted its head against his fingers. He still had the half-healed cuts on the back of his hand from when the little creature had accidentally scratched him. It curled around his fingers, a small, comforting warmth.

Its presence was helping him come down from the nightmare, at least, giving him something else to focus on. At last, Renn extricated his hand and pushed himself up. He looked across to where Gat was snoring in the other bunk, the one that had been Aeron's once.

He didn't really want to sit in here, lost in his own thoughts, and he didn't want to try and go back to sleep, either. He took a quick shower, then got dressed.

He wasn't entirely surprised when the wyvern dropped onto his shoulder and clung there just before he stepped out into the hall. It seemed to have attached itself to him in Kara's absence. "Okay, little guy," he muttered. The bird trilled again in response.

Renn went out to the galley for a cup of caf. Liana didn't seem to be up yet. She usually should be, by this hour. He checked her comlink signal on his datapad, and found it still in the dormitory. She must be exhausted, too.

He was sitting at the table in the main hold with his mug, reading on his datapad, when Meena came in, yawning. "Oh, good morning," she said. Worry came over her features as she took him in.

The wyvern looked up briefly as Meena approached them, then shifted to Renn's far shoulder. Meena smiled and held out a cautious hand for the bird to examine. "Isn't he Kara's pet?" she asked. Her voice still sounded rough, but much better now than when she'd first come back aboard. Something else that Aeron would have to answer for.

"Yeah. I think he's lonely," Renn said. The bird made a cooing sound and fluttered away, settling on the back of the acceleration couch. He kept an eye on Meena, but he was apparently okay with her presence.

Renn wasn't really feeling up to company right now, but she sat down next to him anyway, giving no sign that she was going to leave. She was wearing some of Kara's clothes, which was actually a little bit disconcerting. It was practical, though; neither she nor Cait had anything but the fancy clothes they'd been wearing to the party. She'd probably have to go shopping again on Estaria. She would enjoy that.

"Are you okay, Rennie?" she asked, distracting him from his wandering thoughts.

"Not really, no."

She took his hand and leaned her head against his shoulder, offering comfort. He sighed. That was just Meenie. "I know. You miss Kara," she said quietly. "I'm here if you want to talk."

He didn't. Not really. Except... maybe he kinda did. At least he knew Meena would be sympathetic. "We had a fight that night," he said after a while.

"I heard," she said. "Well, Liana told us about what happened at the party, anyway. Was it bad?"

"It was at the time. I think we needed it, though. It got a lot of things out in the open that we just never talked about. There was a lot that we kept... patching over and ignoring. That patch just wasn't going to hold unless we fixed the underlying problem."

"Ouch," she said, squeezing his hand. "Did you?"

"I think so." He hesitated, then he confessed in barely a whisper, "Meena, I- I asked her to marry me."

Meena's head shot up. "You _what?!"_ Her eyes widened. "What happened?! What did she say?!"

"She wouldn't give me an answer. And then she-" Renn looked away from her.

"Oh, sweetie." She squeezed his hand again. "Did she explain it?"

"Explain what?"

"You really don't know?" she breathed.

"Meena, what are you talking about?" he asked, wary.

"Well... when I asked her about it before, Kara told me that her people only get married when they want to start a family." She watched his face. "So... um... I think you actually kind of asked her to have your children."

_"What?!_ Oh, hell. No wonder...." And then he started laughing, despite himself, despite everything. Mostly because if he didn't laugh, he thought he might have a breakdown instead. "I botched it even more than I thought, didn't I?" His voice wavered a little.

Meena hugged him gently. "You heard Captain Liana. We're going to get her back, one way or another," his friend said, in a tone that would not be argued with.

He hugged her back, the fit of manic laughter fading as quickly as it had come over him. "I hope you're right," he said.

"When have I ever been wrong?" Meena asked playfully.

Renn snorted. "Would you like the full list?"

She stuck her tongue out at him like she used to do when they were little kids, and they both laughed, a real laugh this time.

After a moment, though, she pulled away so she could meet his eyes. "You know, we need you to snap out of this if we're going to have a chance."

"What?"

"We need you, Rennie. We don't even know where to start looking."

He frowned at her. "The bond doesn't work like that for me. I can't just... reach out and find her."

"That's not what I meant," Meena said gently. She smiled and tapped his forehead. "We need your brain, genius. We need you to figure out what to do when we get where we're going."

"Right." He frowned. "What we need," he said, almost more to himself than to Meena, "is a reason to get into that Republic base." He grabbed his datapad and started searching for information on the Republic base on Estaria. "Or... maybe the shipyard."

"Hmm?" Meena got up to get herself some caf, too, while he was working. "Did you find something?"

"Maybe. I might have an idea to get us in the door...."

***

Voices.

Dozens of voices, hundreds, even millions of voices all speaking, none saying anything. The voices reached for her, pawing at her, grasping her clothes, her hair. Pulling her first this way, then that, tearing at her in their need.

Why were they after her? She was no one, just another faceless, nameless being in a sea of life cut off from others, adrift as flowers scattered across the sea.

Yet still they came. She couldn't break free, couldn't move away. The voices surrounded her. Murmurings and mutterings. No words coherent enough to understand. She was swamped by pawing hands, drowning in the needs of others, and she knew she had to get out, but she couldn't find the way.

Under the swarming mass, trapped in cloying, stifling dark, she couldn't find ground. She could no longer tell which way was up. Where was the light?

And then, from far beyond—possibly not even in this part of the galaxy—came one more wordless muttering. This one wasn't a plea for help, a need to take from her; it was a need to give back. It was a moment of clarity in this sea of fog.

This one voice, this touchstone, brought her back to herself. She accepted that offer of support from across the stars and used it to propel herself away, to break through the fog and burst back up into the light....

Kara Tao Vanden opened her eyes. They felt heavy, gummy, as if they had not been opened for days, perhaps weeks.

At first, she wasn't even sure she'd succeeded in opening her eyes. The room was completely dark. She was on some horizontal surface, and she couldn't move her arms or legs from their widespread positions.

Her last solid memory was Aeron coming aboard the Wanderer, the night of the dinner at Liana's ancestral home. He... he'd threatened Renn's life, and then made her take some powerful drug. How long ago had that been?

"Ah," said a familiar voice. Kara couldn't figure out its source, but it sounded like it was coming over a speaker. "You're awake.... Good."

She recognized the voice. "Baroness Ordo, I presume?" Kara asked.

"Oh, you know about our little dance at Castell. I forgot about that. My true name is Ashee Quinn. Not that it matters. There's no one you can tell about it, where you are."

"Oh?" Kara asked. "Where is that?"

"Why, in the dark, silly. There's no one there but you. Go ahead, tell me if I'm lying or not."

Kara listened to the Music as hard as she could. Nothing. Faint whispers, as if far, far away, but nothing here. "I'm on a ship," she said succinctly.

"Of course you are," Quinn said. "It is vital that you understand that nothing I tell you will be a lie. It will always be the complete and unvarnished truth. You believe me, don't you?"

"Of course I do. You're _so_ trustworthy." Kara rolled her eyes. "Why are you even doing this?"

"Why not? It's a Jedi's job to protect life."

Kara snorted. "A Jedi's maybe, but not yours. Considering you serve death itself."

"Why do you believe that?" Quinn asked. "I serve the Force and walk the path it has laid before me."

Kara laughed. "You know who was also always asking what I believed? Venaar. Figures, though, since you both serve the same master."

"We are _not_ the Sith. We are the light."

"Lady, you are so _not_ the light I doubt you'd even recognize it anymore."

"Of course I would. It looks like this."

From however far away she was, Ashee Quinn sent cold light to bombard Kara's mind. Blinding, burning. Kara screamed and tried to hide from it, but she could not move.

An age, or an hour, or a second later, the freezing brilliance dimmed. As the pain ebbed, Kara's muscles relaxed. She'd have sagged against her bonds if there had been any give in them to begin with.

"Now that we've established the difference," Quinn said smugly, "I think we should end our session here. I will be back soon." The speaker cut off.

And once more, Kara was alone in the dark.

***

In the core of the Jedi Temple on the Republic capital world of Coruscant, Ashee Quinn rubbed her eyes.

The gesture struck Valen Kell, who stood behind her, as odd. Quinn was usually a rock, but lately, she was becoming more and more frayed around the edges. The strain of maintaining all their various shadows and puppets was telling on her, even as it was upon him.

"I note," he said, "that you did not mention the fate of her friends aboard the Phoenix?"

Quinn shook her head. "That card, I hold in reserve. It will break her completely. If we want anything left of her gifts, then we must make sure she shatters in the way we wish her to."

"Indeed." Kell nodded. "What of your other... project?"

"Yenaia Tran? She is here, in a cell below. I was just about to proceed with the first steps of indoctrination," she purred, and then turned coy eyes up to his own. "If you'd like to observe?"

Kell sighed. "I cannot. I've a meeting of the cabinet in an hour. We are presenting our case for finally pacifying Sith space."

Quinn was not entirely successful in keeping the disappointment from her voice as she said, "I see, then.... May the Force be with you, Master."

"And with you," he said, placing a firm hand upon her shoulder, "Ashee."

***

Yenaia awoke, lying in darkness. She was not chained, but, casting her senses out, she knew that she was in a cell, somewhere in the Jedi Temple. She could feel the wrongness, stronger now, all around her.

For now, she was alone, but she didn't expect that to continue. They had been looking for her since her Master's death; now that they had her, she was sure they would come. Whether that was to kill her or to attempt to subvert her, she did not know. Until then, it would do her no good to worry. She settled onto the floor in a kneeling position, and turned her attention inward, focusing on her connection to the Force.

She wasn't sure how long she sat like that, before her meditation was interrupted by a very familiar voice.

"Good morning, Yenaia Tran."

"Master Quinn," Yenaia said, opening her eyes.

The door to the cell opened and a figure stepped inside with a flood of light that made her squint. Then the door closed, leaving the pair of them to the dark once more. "I am so glad to renew our acquaintance," Ashee Quinn said. "You left Solara so... abruptly."

The feeling of wrongness was stronger, almost physically nauseating. "Master D'Yarn sent me away," Yenaia said, fighting to keep her voice steady.

"Why would he do that, do you think?"

"Because people needed my help, and it is the duty of a Jedi to aid those in need," she said. Of course, Yenaia had long suspected the real reason, but she thought Quinn did as well, and was just baiting her.

"That is a safe answer, isn't it? Almost out of a youngling's lecture guide. But we are Jedi, not children who must be placated. Nor have we secrets from one another."

"Perhaps he knew that he would be betrayed by those he trusted," Yenaia snapped, despite herself. She instantly regretted the rash words.

"I rather fear you have that exactly backwards, my dear," Quinn said. "It was D'Yarn who was the betrayer. He lost his faith and acted against the Council."

Yenaia shook her head, even though the room was dark. "No. There is a wrongness I can sense in you. In all the Council."

"A 'wrongness'? Come now, my dear, you can be more specific."

"It is a... darkness," Yenaia said after a moment. She knew she shouldn't say anything at all, but... maybe, if she could get through to Quinn, one of the Masters, perhaps she could help them, perhaps she could turn things around.

"Yes," Quinn admitted with a sigh. "What we are doing skirts far closer to the dark side than any of us should be comfortable with... but it is necessary if we are to end this destructive chaos and bring order back to the galaxy. Master D'Yarn...." Her voice choked off, but then she continued a moment later. "He lost his way. He fell too far into the dark, and had to be ended."

"No!" Yenaia could not believe that. She would not. If that was true, why would he have warned her with the last of his strength? Why would he have tried to protect her?

"I can prove the truth of what I say," Quinn said. "I was there. Let me enter your mind. Lower your defenses and I will show you my memories. D'Yarn was my dear friend. I would spare you the pain of this, but I can sense your desire for the truth."

Yenaia hesitated.

"Or, you may continue in ignorance." Quinn's voice held a note of disgust. "I had thought your Master trained you better than that."

Yenaia weighed her options. The Force gave her no guidance here; everything felt turbulent, and she couldn't focus. She knew this was what Quinn wanted, but to what purpose? If she opened herself to Quinn, could she somehow try to heal the sickness and bring her back? Or would Quinn use it to destroy her mind, as she had so many others?

"Very well," Yenaia said finally.

A moment later she felt Quinn enter her mind. The contact was cold and harsh, and she instinctively withdrew. Quinn simply waited, and eventually Yenaia forced the bridge between them to open.

She saw the council chamber on Solara, the five Masters gathered in conclave.... Somehow she knew this was the day of the light, just moments before its eruption. She saw D'Yarn and Quinn conversing, though she could not hear their words. Then, Master Kell entered. He and D'Yarn argued... and Kell ran his lightsaber straight through him.

The sight of that shocked Yenaia to her core. It was.... No, Quinn was holding back. Editing the memories so Yenaia would not learn certain things. She could feel it.

And that was when Yenaia realized the true depth of her folly.

Quinn rode that strong emotion, that grief, right past the rest of Yenaia's defenses, and pushed them over as if they were made of paper. She took the very stuff of Yenaia's mind in her hands and twisted it, made it her plaything.

Before unconsciousness mercifully took her, Yenaia Tran screamed.


	2. Complications

Meena was nervous as she stood on the Wanderer's bridge, in the middle of the four seats. She looked out the viewport ahead of her at the sight of the planet Estaria before them.

Renn wasn't helping her nerves, the way he was fidgeting in his seat, watching his console intensely as they waited in orbit for the response from Estaria planetary control. 

She knew why he was so stressed about this. This was going to be the real test of his new handiwork. The ship's transponder was now listed as the Horizon, registered to a Captain Melinna Sanda out of Nar Shaddaa. Which Meena had to remember was _her_ now. She'd just gotten used to the last fake name, and now she had to get used to a new one. She had no idea how Rennie managed it.

She was aware of Cait and Gat sitting just behind where she stood, in the two rear seats on the bridge. It was really hard to resist reaching back for Cait's hand right now. The Mandalorian woman would have been a way better choice to play Captain; she was used to this sort of thing. But no, Renn insisted it had to be Meena. There was a chance Cait might be recognized, after all.

"They're taking too long to respond," Renn complained. He drummed his fingers on the side of his console.

"Calm down," Liana snapped. She was not happy right now either; she'd had to wear clothes to hide her identity.

This was really, really not helping. The Twi'lek took a deep breath and crossed her arms behind her back, trying to look calm and composed.

"You're totally trying to imitate Sallis, aren't you?" Gat asked her.

"Shush," she said imperiously. "That's an order."

Renn snorted. Then he sat forward. "They're back," he said.

Meena and Liana both tried to order him to open the comm channel at the same time. Liana's ears flattened. Meena resisted the urge to apologize as the voice of the planetary control officer came over the ship's speakers. "Horizon, Estaria Control. You're cleared for docking. Please proceed to docking bay 84."

"Thank you, Estaria Control," Meena said.

Renn cut the connection. "Well, it seems like they bought it."

"I'm sorry, Captain," Meena cried. "I didn't mean to-"

Liana cut her off with an upraised hand. "No, you were correct. This is our cover right now." She began the landing sequence.

Cait leaned in. "So, once we're down, what's the plan?" She was nearly as uncomfortable-looking as Liana. In the end, she'd ransacked Aeron's footlocker for clothes, and the results didn't really fit. Further, her bright red hair was now dyed a dull black, which bugged her as much as it did Meena. "If I'm going anywhere, I need to borrow a blaster or two. Thanks to vapor-brain here," she said, glaring at Gat, who cringed, "the only weapon I've got is a ceremonial dagger with Clan Rook markings all over it."

Renn chuckled, enjoying Gat's discomfiture. "If you ask nice, you can probably borrow something from T5."

Cait looked very unsure, but Meena put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be fine. Liana's going to take the two of us in the hot rod and drop us off to arrange supplies and buy some new clothes. It should be pretty simple."

"After I drop you two off," Liana added, "I'll be on standby near the boys in case they need some quick cover."

"Gat and I will take the Wanderer over to the shipyard and pick up a load of surplus, which we can use to barter for the supplies," Renn said. "That'll get us into the shipyard."

"While I'm keeping the shipyard officials busy," Gat continued, "Renn does his magic with their computer systems and finds out where the records say the Emancipator went. Then we all meet up here, settle accounts, and go get Kara back."

Renn nodded.

Liana brought the Wanderer in smooth as silk and set it down in the center of the bay. Bay 84 was a large circular space, open to the sky. One of a large honeycomb of similar landing bays in Estaria's main spaceport. 

Cait hopped up to go finegle weaponry from T5, and Liana rose to go pre-flight the hot rod. Meena followed them out. "Captain, I really am sorry about before."

"I know, Meena," Liana said. "The necessity of our disguise overrides the fact that it rankles me a bit, but I am not mad you in the slightest."

"I was thinking, should I buy you a dress instead?"

Liana gave her a flat look of incomprehension.

"It might be more comfortable for you than pants?" Meena suggested lamely.

Liana patted Meena's shoulder and stalked off, grumbling.

Meena went into the main cabin, to discover T5 had come down the little track next to the gunner's ladder he used to access his recharge area. The astromech had rolled over to a small storage locker, and opened it to display a bewildering array of heavy blaster pistols.

"Wow, T5.... You've got good taste," Cait said in admiration. The little murderbot beeped happy beeps.

Cait selected two pistols and added them to the holsters at either hip she'd made from one of Aeron's tunics. She slipped a vibroknife into one boot.

Meena blinked at her. "Are you sure that's not overkill?" she asked. "I mean, it's just a shopping trip."

Cait picked up another of the hand cannons and thrust it at Meena, grip first. "No," she said succinctly.

"That might actually be more dangerous in my hands," Meena said with a little laugh, although she took it anyway. She knew Cait well enough to know she was going to wind up carrying it whether she wanted to or not.

"Honey," Cait said flatly, "we're on a Republic world, with Republic deathmarks on all our heads. If you're visibly armed, you'll draw less of the wrong sort of attention. Now, here's a holster for you, too. That blaster stays in it the entire time. Even if they start shooting at us, don't draw. Don't rest a hand on it. Don't even touch it while you're wearing it. I'll protect you, but I have to know, if something happens, you've got options."

"I don't get a say in this, do I?"

"None whatsoever. You don't have to like it, but you either go armed, or you don't go."

Liana leaned in. "Ladies? Are you ready?"

Meena sighed and buckled the gunbelt on and slammed the blaster home. "Yes, let's go."

***

Liana's voice came over the comm at Renn's station on the bridge. "All right, we're heading out now. Be careful."

"You, too," Renn said. He closed the channel. 

As soon as Liana took off in the hot rod, Gat launched the Wanderer and started toward the Republic shipyard. Renn had already arranged a contract for them to haul away some surplus. They would, hopefully, be able to pay for the resupply by bartering it, considering the only uncompromised bank account they had access to right now was Meena's rapidly dwindling one.

Once they were clear of the spaceport, Gat slotted the freighter into an air traffic lane and took over the comm. "Estaria Shipyard, this is the Corellian Freighter Horizon. We're scheduled for a surplus pick up in two hours?"

A moment later, an extremely bored voice came back over the speaker. "Horizon, this is Estaria Shipyard. We show you on our records. Our surplus pickup is located at the coordinates we're transmitting on a subchannel. Do you recieve?"

Renn nodded. 

"Affirmative. Any problem if we show up early? We made good time getting here."

That got the paper-pusher's attention. "Wow, you're _early?_ That's a first.... Junk hounds are usually a day late."

"All part of the service," Gat said, with the worst forced smile Renn had ever seen. He resisted the urge to point out that they were on audio only.

"All right. If you want to cool your heels for an hour or two, sure. Shipyard, out." And the channel closed.

"Great, now we have some time to kill," Renn said, rolling his eyes. 

"You were in a hurry?" Gat asked. 

"I guess not. We need to wait for Meena and Cait to get back anyway," Renn sighed. To be honest, he just wanted to be doing something to distract himself. 

"I've got my Pazaak deck?" Gat said hopefully.

Renn gave him a level look. "I hate you, Gat," he said in a deadpan tone.

Gat laughed.

"Wait," Renn asked with a sudden smirk, "you're telling me that you remembered your deck, but not your sister's armor?"

"Yeah. Uh, let's not tell Cait that, all right?"

"Sure, for a hundred... and one credits."

***

After taking care of the fuel and ration resupply that Liana and Renn requested, arranging for it to be sent directly to their docking bay, Meena and Cait headed into the city proper to get some new clothes. 

Meena took Cait's arm as they walked. She knew they were in a dire situation; she knew they needed to hurry up and get this done so they could rescue Kara. But she'd been stuck on ships — first the Phoenix, and now the Wanderer — for so long. Except for the party, Meena realized that she and Cait hadn't actually been out anywhere together before. It was kind of nice.

Meena looked around with a critical eye at the shops they passed. Finally she saw one that looked interesting, and pulled Cait toward the door.

"Here?" Cait asked. "Why this one?"

"I like that dress in the display," Meena said, smiling at her. "I'm kind of impulsive sometimes, in case you hadn't noticed."

Cait laughed and they entered the shop. "So... where do we begin? How do we do this?"

Meena blinked at her. "Haven't you ever gone shopping before?"

Cait shook her head.

"Oh!" Meena giggled and wove her way through the racks of clothing. "Well, this stuff isn't going to be tailor-made. We don't have time or money for that. We just have to try things on until we find something that we like."

Cait blinked. "Meena, the last time I got to style clothing to my taste, it involved pressure-forging."

"Hmm." Meena turned her head, looking at Cait appraisingly. "You're lucky I like a challenge. And that I used to help with wardrobe in my old troupe."

She winked and turned back to start looking through the racks. "I'm guessing you'd rather have something pretty plain, huh?" She selected some simple tunics, blouses and pants. She had to estimate the size, but she was usually a pretty good judge. And, well, she had rather intimate knowledge of Cait's measurements. "Do you want to try some stuff on? There's some private dressing rooms over there." 

"Um...." Cait suddenly sounded very unsure. The indomitable warrior was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a suddenly shy young woman. "Will you come in and help me pick stuff out?"

Meena beamed at her. "Of course. Hang on." 

She looked around a little more, and then she saw it. The same style of dress that had caught her eye in the window. It was a pretty shade of blue. And she realized, as she got a closer look at it, it wouldn't look very good against her skin tone. She sighed, then looked back at Cait. She grabbed the dress anyway, in a different size. She suddenly wanted to see Cait try it on for her. "Okay, let's go!"

"So... What do we.... Hey!" Meena had all but shoved Cait toward the changing rooms, hauled her behind the curtain, and shut the Mandalorian away inside the cubicle.

After a moment, when she hadn't heard anything from the other side, Meena asked through the curtain. "How's it going?"

"It's... Is it really all right to just put this on? We didn't buy it yet, did we?"

Meena sighed heavily. "That's how we figure out if it fits before we buy it." She lowered her voice. "Do you want me to come in and help you?"

"N- no. I think I got it." Cait pulled the curtain aside. "Well?"

Meena smiled. "It looks really good on you... what do you think?" She giggled at her lover's expression. "You've never worn a dress before, have you?"

"Never," Cait affirmed. "I think I like it. But it feels... drafty."

Meena laughed. "Well, I like it, too," she said. "Why don't you try some of the other stuff on, and I'll be right back?" She started off toward the rack with the dresses again.

She grabbed a few things for herself to try, including a different dress in black, as well as some more practical pants and tunics. "I'm back," she said to Cait's curtain. 

The curtain slipped open and Cait stepped out. She'd replaced the dress with a pair of loose trousers, a brilliant cyan blouse and a short jacket that fell just above her hips. She'd strapped her blasters on either hip again.

"Oh, you look cute in that!" Meena nodded her approval. Then she eyed the blasters. "Are you trying everything on with your blasters?"

Cait blinked at her. "Of course. Although, I have no idea how to draw them from under that dress without giving everyone a show."

Meena couldn't help it; she just started giggling at the thought of Cait hiking up her skirt to draw her blasters.

Cait looked irritated for a moment, before softening and joining in the giggle fit.

They took turns trying stuff on for each other, until Meena was satisfied with what they had picked out. They had both settled on mostly practical things, aside from the dresses. But, well, they both needed something fun, too, all things considered. She paid for everything using the account Rennie had set up under her new identity, and arranged for their purchases to be delivered to the docking bay so they wouldn't have to carry everything around.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Meena asked as they left the shop.

"Yeah, it was fun," Cait said, sounding distracted. She kept looking around as they walked. 

"Is something wrong?" Meena asked, keeping her voice down.

"Yeah," Cait paused, "we're being followed."

Meena fixed her gaze on Cait's face, fighting the urge to look around for whoever was after them. Ori had taught her better than that. She was going to have to trust Cait on this. 

She suddenly realized they had nowhere safe to go right now; the Wanderer was off with Renn and Gat for their mission, and if she and Cait went to the empty docking bay, they would risk leading someone to their friends when they returned. She had no doubt Liana would come in the smaller ship if Meena called for help, but the Trianii was supposed to stay near the shipyard to back the boys up right now. 

"What do we do?" she whispered. 

"We keep our heads, and find better ground than this. Come on." Cait grabbed Meena's hand and they turned down the promenade.

***

The loading dock for the shipyard was pretty busy. There were crews hauling crates, a handful of guards, and someone who looked like a supervisor. "That's who we need," Renn said to Gat, indicating the man who looked like he was in charge. "Let me see if I can't get inside legitimately first before we try distractions and sneaking around." He considered their options. "I think we might have a plumbing issue on the ship, don't you?"

"Oh yeah, gummed up for weeks. Blame it on the previous owner. Who's gonna tell a _Wookiee_ not to flush that?" 

Renn snorted. "Hopefully, this won't take long." 

He headed over to the supervisor. "Hey there," he said, smiling. "We're here to haul some surplus."

"Oh yeah, you're the early ones." The man held out a hand, and Renn shook it.

"Yeah. I know you're probably not ready for us yet, but we've been having some... issues... with the plumbing aboard our ship. Is there any chance I could use your refresher before we get started?"

The man chuckled. "Oh, plumbing trouble on freighters is a nightmare, huh?"

"Yeah, we should be able to get it fixed after this run. But the previous owner failed to mention it when he sold it to us."

"Ugh." The supervisor winced in sympathy, then he turned and pointed toward the building behind him. "Sure. Just go in that door, and it's down the first hallway on the right. You can't miss it."

"Do I need any kind of pass or authorization?"

"Nah, that part of the building isn't high-security. Just stay out of the marked areas."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it." Renn waved back toward Gat and headed into the building.

Once inside, Renn started looking for a computer terminal. The hallway was long and straight, with other hallways intersecting at odd intervals. He'd have to be careful not to get lost if he started wandering.

Of course, there wasn't a terminal within sight. That would've been too easy. He started by taking the first right, as the man outside had told him. There was the the refresher he'd been directed to. He cautiously opened a different door off the hallway, but it was just a janitor's supply closet. Great.

A sign on the only other door ahead, at the end of the hall, read "Authorized Personnel Only". He checked the door frame for alarms. There was nothing obvious. He tried the handle. It wasn't locked.

Carefully, he nudged the door open. The room was empty... and more importantly, there were several computer terminals. He slipped a computer spike out of his belt pouch and got to work.

***

The crowd in the open air shopping promenade was dense. 

Cait kept a death grip on Meena's hand and pulled her along behind her. There had to be a way out of this trap....

"Doesn't running like this make us _more_ visible?" Meena asked.

Cait paused and swept the crowd with her eyes. "It's a trade-off," she admitted. "We aren't going to escape, not without a diversion. Right now, we're looking for a better spot for the firefight."

Meena was shocked. "But... this is a crowd of _civilians!"_

Cait turned and looked her full in the face. "I know, and I hate it, too. But if it's a choice between keeping you safe and risking collateral damage, honey, it's no question."

Meena shook her head. "But-" She clamped her mouth shut, but her lip was trembling. Damn, Cait thought, she looked like she was fighting tears. 

They emerged into a sort of food court. Cleaning crews circled the area, picking up trash and wiping down tables. Most of the workers were Ugnaughts, short pig-like bipedal aliens. Cait didn't like to judge, but the few times she'd encountered them elsewhere had not been... pleasant. 

But there were dozens of people in the courtyard, eating food from the various vendors in grounded hover vans, and just milling about. Better, there weren't open shop doors every few yards. Ideas began to form.

"This is good," Cait said. "Clean sight lines, multiple ways out, lots of cover. All right...." She ushered Meena behind a column and waited, hand on one of her blasters. She turned to look Meena straight in the eyes. "Hey, honey? Remember what I told you on the ship?"

Meena nodded. 

"Good girl." Cait drew both her blasters. "Now, forget it. When the shooting starts, watch my back and keep me covered." 

Hand shaking, Meena drew her own weapon. "But... shooting in a crowd like this...."

"I know," Cait said around a lump in her throat. It was Castell all over again, trying to save her own skin and those of the people closest to hers, at the expense of innocents.... 

No, dammit. Not again. She quite deliberately thumbed her pistols' power settings. "Set your blaster for stun. We aren't monsters."

"Right," Meena whispered. She thumbed the power setting and tried to sound brave. "Cait, I-" She hesitated. "I-"

Poor thing, she must be half-terrified, Cait thought. "I was hoping to teach you how to shoot better, but we haven't gotten to that lesson yet. Look, don't yank the trigger. Just squeeze it gently. Smooth motion, or you'll miss. Also, I know it's counter-intuitive, but don't aim. It'll make you overthink it. Just point at who you want to shoot with the gun. You're on stun, so you really can't make a mistake." She gave Meena a confident smile. "Unless you accidentally shoot me. Don't shoot me."

Meena looked like she was going to object, but the goons who'd been following them had just made it to the courtyard and were beginning to disperse through the crowd. 

"Here we go. When the chaos starts, move to the exit over there." She pointed with one of her blasters. Meena turned her head to look. "Ready?" Cait asked her.

Meena bit her lip, then nodded. "As ready as I can be," she said.

Cait nodded and sprang from cover, both pistols blazing. She made her way quickly to another column a dozen yards away, her bright blue stun bolts striking goons and innocents alike, but that only added to the resultant chaos. People began running in all directions, screaming. The goons opened up with their own weapons, with lethal efficiency. Patrons fell, parents rushed children towards the exits and vendors ducked back into their wagons' relative safety.

Cait made it to the column and nodded for Meena to join her... but Meena wasn't where she had been. 

She heard the crackle of another stun blast and an all-too-familiar voice exclaim in pain. Cait whirled to see Meena falling in a heap at the feet of... the Ugnaughts? Half a dozen of them were tossing her body into a large blue waste disposal bin. The little biters then began pushing the bin toward the knot of goons. 

They'd walked right into a trap! A heavy storm of blaster fire forced Cait to retreat behind her cover. In the distance, she could hear the sirens she'd been so hoping for, but now, they'd be as dangerous to her as the goons were.

From what little she could see, the goons already had the bin containing Meena. They began falling back. Cait took note of one of their apparent leaders, a Zabrak with blood red horns. Rising from cover, she took careful aim and sent a blue stun bolt right between his shoulder blades, then she turned and fled.

***

High atop a public parking garage within spitting distance of the shipyard, Liana sat at the controls of the hot rod.

She remembered all the lazy afternoons when they had been off duty, and Saheen and Tihaar would be working on this ship. Tweaking this, repairing that.... It seemed to her that most of the work involved the playing of music over a portable media player and the consumption of chilled alcohol while arguing about the merits of one component versus another. 

With a fond smile, Liana recalled the day that Saheen had brought the rusted out old hulk of the ship home, as if he had found the rarest of treasures. Liana has been so furious with him for wasting their money on the thing, but working on it had brought him so much joy that she'd soon relented. 

Of course, the legalities of a civilian owning a personal starfighter were a bit... unclear. To ease the fears of Liana's mother and the other elder females, Saheen had deactivated the ship's weapons.

Naturally, in the intervening years, Tihaar had reactivated them. Well, him or Rukka....

Liana's comlink beeped. It wasn't Renn or Gat's assigned tone. "Yes?"

Cait's voice came through. "We have a problem. Somebody recognized us. Me, her, or both. I don't know."

"What happened?" Liana asked in sudden worry. The fact that Cait wasn't using names on an open channel meant she was worried they might have been compromised, and that made things so much worse....

"Group of thugs showed up, started a firefight. They grabbed her and got her out before the cops showed up."

"Are you safe?"

"For the moment. I got well clear. The area is swarming with constabulary though."

Liana sighed. "Right, do you have any idea where they took her? I can be there in minutes if you need a hand...."

"No," Cait said firmly. "Stay there. I've got a plan. When I know more, I'll comm. Out."

As the comm went quiet again, Liana uttered a prayer for Cait and Meena. She hoped things were going better for Renn and Gat.

***

With the help of his computer spike, Renn was in the system in a matter of minutes, looking for the Republic fleet records. He found them after a few quick searches. The files were encrypted, but it wasn't complicated to break. Republic security was laughable, at best.

He scanned the records for the Emancipator. His guess had been right; the Republic warship had left Estaria for Coruscant a couple of days ago. He downloaded the records to his datapad, just in case.

This was way too easy, he thought as he closed the connection to the terminal.

He made his way back down the hall, retracing his steps back to the door to the loading area.

"Hey," the dock supervisor called as he exited the building. Renn fought not to look guilty. The man kept talking. "We're loading your ship right now."

"Thanks," Renn said. He forced a friendly smile. "Pays to be early, I guess." He headed back to the ship before he could get stuck in another conversation with the man.

The shipyard's crew was busy wrangling the surplus when he made it back aboard the Wanderer. He found Gat in the cargo hold, directing the loading. The Mandalorian looked a question at him, and Renn nodded. It was done, and they had what they needed.

While the crew finished up, Renn went back to the cockpit to offload the data from his datapad, then he started calculations for the jump to Coruscant. They finally had a destination. And as soon as everyone was aboard again, they were going to get Kara back.

***

The entire area was awash in law enforcement. The medics had come and taken away the injured and the dead. But an impressive number of constables still remained, taking statements and piecing together the sequence of events.

Cait observed it all from the back of the crowd. There, the good beings in blue had already arrested the Zabrak she'd shot. He was cooling his heels in the back of an armored speeder, hands cuffed behind his back.

Careful to avoid being seen, Cait picked her way over to the speeder. No one was looking, and she tried the door. It opened. The Zabrak looked up at her and started in shock. Cait used the opportunity to lance two fingers and a thumb into his midsection. He winced.

"Now that I have your attention, I'm here to offer you a deal."

"Wha... what deal?" he gasped.

"Tell me where my friend was taken, and I'll not only let you live, I'll let you out of this speeder."

"And if I don't?"

"Funny thing about your species," Cait said in an urgent whisper. "This organ here, the greater spleen? Do you know, if I squeeze hard enough, it'll burst? If that happens, it will take you ten days to die." She began to demonstrate.

He gasped and writhed. She relented. "So, we got a deal?"

Twenty minutes later, Cait was in cover at the mouth of an alleyway, across the quiet street from a somewhat dilapidated one-story building. Building? It was more like a shack. Windows all boarded over, and only one door that she could see, but it was heavily reinforced... probably blasterproof.

Cait reached for the pouch at her back and took out two things: a handheld scanner she’d snatched from the Wanderer, and a length of gray cloth. 

The cloth, she wound around her head, obscuring her features and hair. She zipped her jacket up completely, and took off her gunbelt, stashing the weaponry behind the crates she was currently hiding behind. She took a scan of the building as she rubbed dirt onto her forearms and jacket. Then she rolled down her boot tops as the scan finished.

The results were inconclusive, but it looked like one life sign, seated in a back corner of the structure, and five more scattered around the front half. None seemed to be watching the street.

She set the scanner for continuous triangulation and put it in her pocket. Then, using a stout stick she'd found in the alleyway as a cane, she leaned into her disguise as a hunched old woman out for a stroll and left the alley. She kept her movements short, and her knees and shoulders hunched, folding into herself as she walked. 

She made a complete circuit of the place. As she walked along its back wall, she noted that it had no windows back here at all, and that, judging by the exposed structural beams at the roofline, it was extremely flimsy. No electronic security at all, and no one even watching the back. Talk about amateurs.

Cait hobbled back to the alleyway and checked the results of the scan. This time, she'd gotten a lot better results. The figure in back was definitely a female Twi'lek, and she hadn't moved the entire time. Two humans and a trio of ughnaughts were inside as well. Though they had moved around some, none were even watching the front door.

Time to take candy from babies.... Dropping her disguise, Cait strapped on her guns again. 

She stormed across the street, blaster in one hand, and pounded on the door with her other fist. "All right, Huttlickers! You took someone you shouldn't have!"

A panicked exclamation from inside. Most of it in the pig-squeals of Ugnaughts. But one very clearly human. "Oh sweet krif! She found us!"

"Oh boy," she clearly heard Meena say from the back of the house. "You are in soooo much trouble."

"Listen!" Cait thundered. "You send her out unhurt, right now. You do, I take her, we leave. You hurt her, or make me come in there, and I will _kill_ you all. And then, I'm going after your families!"

"She'll do it," Meena said, adding a tone of distaste and dread. "She's done it before."

Ducking under the line of the front windows, Cait dashed around to the back of the house, drawing T5’s vibroknife from out of her other boot. As weapons go, it wasn't much, but it made short work of the Cait-sized hole she carved between the wall's supports. 

She hauled herself inside. The entire crew was still focused on the door.

It was almost too easy....

When the last of the thugs was down, tied up and disarmed, Cait finally turned to freeing Meena, crouching by the chair she was bound to. "Brilliant improv, babe."

"I thought the line about the families was a bit much...."

Cait shrugged. "Yeah, well, I was improvising, too. Come on, we need to be gone."

Meena nodded. "They said their boss was on the way."

"No," said a new voice, "I'm here already."

Cait froze. She knew that voice. 

"Stand up," it said.

Rising slowly, hands well away from her weapons, Cait turned to face the newcomer. A man stood in the doorway, wearing gleaming black Mandalorian armor. He had a brilliant red Clan Rook crest on his left chest, and a wicked looking blaster carbine trained on Cait.

"Norn," she said in disbelief, "what is this?"

"Redemption... or at least, revenge. I couldn't believe my luck when I saw you in the street. Now, toss the blasters over there, Cait. Slowly."

Using two fingers of each hand, Cait complied. "Revenge, for what? We're clanmates!"

Norn snorted. "We _were._ There _is_ no more Clan Rook! You and that foolish Free Mandalorian Fleet saw to that...."

"What do you mean?!" Meena demanded.

The man snarled at her. "I mean my cousin there and all her deliriously idealistic cronies never thought about the possible consequences! Mandalore himself stripped our Clan of its lands and its honor! Our very name is suspect!"

"My father would never allow-"

"Your father stands accused of high treason! Him and all other clan leaders who supported your folly! But when I bring you before Mandalore.... Maybe, _maybe,_ we can keep some small shred of ourselves!"

"You think the Republic will let that happen?!" Cait shot back. "Norn, we were all of us lied to. The Jedi orchestrated everything at Castell! Baroness Ordo was a kriffing Jedi Master!"

"The Mandalorians are their scapegoats so they can seize power!" Meena added.

"Mind your tongue, tail-head," Norn said ominously, "while you still have it."

Rage boiled up through Cait like lava. "Norn, I invoke blood challenge!"

Norn actually backed up a step. "On what grounds?!"

"She," Cait said through clenched teeth, "she is-" She switched to Mando'a. "- _kar'taylir darasuum!_ You will _answer!"_

Norn lowered his weapon. "I accept blood challenge." He stepped outside and Cait moved to follow, but Meena put a hand on her arm.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"I challenged him to a duel. Now, I'm going to kill him, or he's going to kill me. Stay here, Meena. Don't interfere."

"But-" Meena bit her lip. She looked confused, and so scared. 

Cait turned sharply. "Meena, please!" Tears stung her eyes. "I have to do this, all right? Just... just stay here. I'll be right back."

Meena suddenly darted in and kissed Cait on the lips. "You'd better," she said, tears in her eyes.

Cait smiled, stroked Meena's cheek, retrieved her blasters, and strode out into the street.

Norn stood perhaps twenty years down the street, carbine in his hand, but resting at his side. Cait kept her blasters pointed at the ground, but in each hand. She took position directly opposite Norn.

With his free hand, Norn withdrew a coin from a pocket. "When this hits the ground?"

"Fine with me," Cait answered, bunching her shoulders in preparation. "Toss it high."

The coin glinted in the sun as it launched from Norn's thumb. Time seemed to slow as it arced high into the air, turning end over end. Cait's mind went blank. She tried to focus, to study Norn's stance, but the thoughts just wouldn't come.

And the coin struck pavement.

Norn's carbine snapped up and fired even as Cait's own weapons were coming up. She felt the fire burn its way through her left shoulder and then her bolts flew.

They flew true, and Norn's carbine exploded. The blast knocked him to the ground and he didn't rise again.

Cait's left hand relaxed and that blaster fell to the ground as well. She holstered the blaster in her right, and then used that hand to pick up the other gun before carefully approaching Norn. She nudged him with a foot and he groaned. His armor kept out the worst of it, and he would be sore as hell when he woke up.

But he would wake up.

Cait let out an explosive sigh of relief and, with great effort, got her second blaster put away.

"Cait?" Meena asked, watching from the doorway. "You're hurt!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide. She was at Cait's side in an instant. "Let me help."

Cait peeled off the jacket she'd swiped from Aeron, wincing as it pulled away from the partially cauterized blaster burn. "Gimme your jacket," she hissed through gritted teeth. Meena shed her coat and handed it over. Cait donned it gingerly. "Nothing draws constables like visible gunshots.... Speaking of, we've got to make ourselves scarce, fast."

Meena wrapped Cait's good arm around her shoulders and helped her down the street in a hurry. She reached up to her comlink necklace with her one free hand as they walked. "Liana? We need a pickup."


	3. Breaking

The ever-present muttering voices kept chattering at her, saying nothing that could be called words, just mouthing sounds of need and want. 

Kara knew if she let them, the voices would grow more insistent and begin tearing her apart once more. But she could hold them at bay now. She Sang in the Music as loud as she could, driving back their chaos with her Song alone.

It was not easy. The strain was enormous. Soon, fear began to creep into her. She was weakening, and the voices knew it. She felt them circling her, waiting for her to tire, and then they would pounce and tear her soul from her flesh.

She fought to the very edges of her endurance, terrified not only of what lurked in the dark, but of the burgeoning power she felt caged within her. The searing light that Quinn had burned her with had touched... something. A ravening hunger that had laid dormant since her encounter with Venaar.

Quinn's light had called out to Kara's, and awoken it.

Truthfully, Kara could not tell which she feared more: the death of her soul via the dark voices, or the bright fire of that light which would leave her ash if she touched it again.

She stood, taut, on a razor's edge. Any movement, any shift, and she would fall in bloody pieces.

And so she had passed the... hours? Days? Kara had long since lost track.

At the very limit of herself, she felt her Song fading, the darkness beginning to inch into the twilight that was her only spot of safety. Tears stung her eyes and her limbs trembled as she fought to hang on.

Then, like a candle at the end of its fuel, her Song sputtered, and it crossed that invisible line where it was no longer strong enough to hold back the dark.

The voices swarmed towards her, and she braced for her end.

But even as the dark claws reached for her, the door slid open, and Quinn entered. She did no more than that, and her mere presence drove off the voices. The silent implacable light she had seared Kara with earlier and the core of Quinn's own Silence-laced darkness created... a twilight.

A twilight not unlike Kara's own.

She tried to force that thought as far away as her weakened self could shove it.

"Now," Quinn said in satisfaction. "Now, you are ready."

Blades of brilliant ice lanced from Quinn's mind. The cold burned Kara's thoughts as they touched her. Quinn's light became her horizon, and then her world grew smaller. The light surrounded and contained all that Kara was.

Kara cried out as she felt herself shunted aside, a prisoner in her own body.

"There," Quinn purred. "We can work on finalizing your programming once we reach the Temple on Coruscant." She stepped forward and gently stroked Kara's cheek. "You..." she whispered, "you shone so brightly. It was like being inside a star. But now, you will be my greatest work. Your light _will_ be ours." 

Kara whimpered in her own mind, but if Quinn terrified her, the person silently lurking behind the dark Jedi stole away her very thoughts.

The twilight flowed from Quinn, but from the man behind her, from Master Kell himself, she felt... nothing. His Song wasn't merely soft, not muffled or muted by the smothering twilight. 

Kell's soul was silent as death itself.

Within the depths of the Grand Master of the Jedi lurked the Silence.

Locked away in a corner of her own mind, Kara screamed into the cold white fire.

***

Yenaia felt the approach of others through the Force before she heard the footsteps in the hallway outside. Two presences, and something... else. One was Master Quinn, the other a tortured, but quiescent mind. The third, whatever it was, chilled her to the bone.

Pulling back, deep within herself, Yenaia hid from her torturers.

Yenaia couldn't say how long it had been since Quinn had invaded her mind. She had spent the intervening time focused inward. Slowly, by pure instinct, she worked within the Force to start pushing back Quinn's influence on her. She didn't dare draw attention to herself now; if Quinn noticed she was losing her hold, then she might try to reinforce it, and undo all the progress Yenaia had made.

Quinn hadn't returned for some time, but now she seemed... distracted. Her footsteps moved past Yenaia's cell, not even hesitating. Her focus was fully on someone else. That tortured mind must be a new victim. Cautiously, Yenaia reached out a little further beyond herself, extending her senses through the Force.

The other presence with Quinn, the tortured mind... Yenaia recognized it. 

It was the light. It was dim now, subsumed beneath Quinn's power. But that presence was unmistakable. 

The light that Yenaia had been seeking for over a year was here, and it... no, she... was breaking before Quinn's will.

Yenaia retreated before she caught Quinn's attention, and waited. She couldn't tell how long it was before footsteps sounded again, and then faded into silence. Yenaia reached out cautiously again for that other mind, for the light, but she quickly hit a wall of that same wrongness she had detected in the Masters, and had to withdraw again. 

She was not strong enough to break through. Not as she was right now.

Yenaia felt hopeless tears track down her own cheeks as she refocused inward once more. There was nothing she could do now for the bearer of the light. She hardly had the strength to help herself.

***

As soon as the surplus was loaded, the Wanderer headed back to its landing pad. To Renn's surprise, Liana didn't follow them back in the hot rod; when he checked in with her over his comlink, she'd only said that she needed to go pick up Cait and Meena. He wasn't sure why, and she hadn't volunteered any details.

The girls had arranged for the fuel and supplies to be delivered to the ship directly at the landing pad. A couple of delivery people appeared not long after they landed, and Renn went down to bargain with them.

In the end, he bartered the surplus they'd loaded at the shipyard to pay for the fuel and other supplies. The little bit left over, he had deposited into an account under Meena's new identity. The two women had also apparently bought some new clothes which were already paid for. Those arrived via delivery droids while they were getting the surplus unloaded. He wasn't surprised at how many packages there were, to be honest. It was Meena, after all.

Gat strolled back to where Renn was directing the delivery droids to drop off Meena's purchases. He smiled wide as a moon. "Got a message from the girls. They want to just meet us in orbit." 

Renn nodded. "Makes sense. It's probably easier to load the hot rod into the cargo bay that way."

"So," Gat said as his grin stretched wider, "let me know when you're done here, so I can take off." He patted the hull. "Looking forward to seeing how she handles in atmo."

The last of the delivery droids left its packages in the dormitory and departed. "Everything should be stashed now." Rolling his eyes, Renn said, "You better not damage our ship."

Gat laughed. "Look who's talking. Come on, I've got a lift off request in the oven already."

***

Renn's sensors signaled the arrival of Liana's little hot rod ship in the cargo bay. "They're aboard," he reported. T5 beeped and began cycling the cargo bay airlock.

He headed back to meet them and catch them up on what he'd discovered. He ran into them in the main hold, Meena supporting Cait with an arm around her, with Liana hovering anxiously behind them. Meena and Cait both looked disheveled and dirty, and Cait's shirt was burnt at the shoulder. 

"Don't you dare argue," Meena was saying. "You're going to the medbay."

"Yes, dear," Cait said in a tone of resignation.

"What the hell happened to you two?" Renn demanded, taking this in.

"We ran into my cousin Norn," Cait said through gritted teeth. "He grabbed Meena. I grabbed her back and got a blaster burn on my shoulder in the process. Damn, I miss my armor."

Renn looked aghast. "He identified you?!"

Cait gave him a long-suffering look. "No, Falani. He just grabbed a random purple Twi'lek on the off-chance it would summon me from across the galaxy."

Renn started to say something else, but Meena cut him off. "We'll talk about it later!" she snapped. "I need to get Cait patched up first." She helped Cait over to the medbay.

A moment later, the ship made the familiar rattle that meant they had entered hyperspace. "I assume that means we got what we needed?" Liana asked him.

"Yeah, but I don't think you're going to like our destination."

Gat jogged back to the main cabin. "I saw Cait hobble in on the cameras. What the hell happened?"

"Come on," Liana said. "Meeting in the medbay... again."

"No need," Cait said as she and Meena emerged back into the main cabin. Cait was sporting a new kolto patch on her shoulder, and had swapped her borrowed shirt for a medical gown, though she'd kept the trousers. "We were spotted by cousin Norn. Mandalore willing, he won't tell the Republic we were there."

"Are you sure you should be up and about?" Liana asked.

"It wasn't that bad a burn, and I've had enough of the medbay for one lifetime. So, where are we going?"

Renn grimaced. "Coruscant."

Everyone was silent for a moment, considering that.

Finally, Meena spoke up. "Well. I've always wanted to see it, but not like this." 

"You're not missing much," Renn said. "It's more or less like Nar Shaddaa, except noisier and busier. And they at least like to pretend they're not doing anything illegal."

She giggled. "Wow, way to sell it." 

"Renn, are you sure that's where they've taken Kara?" Liana asked.

"As sure as I can be," Renn said. "That's where the Emancipator went after Estaria. Besides, it makes sense. The Jedi have their main Temple there."

"And that's where the Jedi seem to be concentrating their power," Gat added.

"So," Cait asked. "Now that we know that, what's the plan?"

"I... haven't quite gotten that far," Renn said.

Meena hesitated before speaking. "Should we swing by Nal Yeshu and ask Ori for help?"

"Ori?" Cait asked. "Who is this Ori you keep mentioning?"

"Rennie's mother," Meena said. "She used to be Republic Spec Ops."

"Wait," Gat said in disbelief. _"Ori Falani?_ Ori Falani's your _mom?!"_

Cait sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Excuse my idiot brother. He's a fan."

"Seriously?" Renn said with a groan. "Yes, she's my mother. How do you even know who she is? Her missions were all classified."

"What? You think you're the only slicer on the ship?" Gat asked. 

"The only good one," Renn retorted.

Cait sighed and appealed to the sky. "Keep it in your pants, boys. I speak for _everyone_ when I say nobody here wants to see them."

Meena snickered. 

"Children, please focus," Liana said. "The longer Kara is in their hands, the more danger she is in. I don't think we have time for the detour. We will need to figure this out on our own."

Renn nodded, looking down. But suddenly, his datapad started beeping insistently, and he reached for it.

"What's up?" Gat asked.

"I set up a media crawler for news about certain subjects." Renn pointed it at the holo-viewer in the main cabin and the projector came to life. "Let's see what it found."

It was a Republic news broadcast. It showed a bunch of Senatorial functionaries and other diplomats at some sort of meeting to discuss galactic security.

Among the attendees was Jedi Master Valen Kell and, standing behind him, his Padawan, Aeron Rhade.

"Well," Renn growled, "there's our kriffing proof that he went to Coruscant." His fists clenched.

Cait sighed. "I'd say we've got a new problem," she muttered. "We can only kill that backstabbing traitor once...."

Meena looked between them in concern, but stayed silent.

But the broadcast wasn't over yet. The news reader went from listing the dignitaries to discussing what the meeting's agenda would cover.

"First on the agenda," the overly cheerful voice was saying, "the panel will hear a report on the destruction of the final renegade Mandalorian terrorists. After the rogue cruiser Phoenix and all of its support vessels were destroyed by Republic forces over the border world Taris...."

***

Everything was in flames. Yenaia stared in horror as the Temple burned around her, all the history and legacy of the Jedi devoured and destroyed. Bodies surrounded her, the dead or dying forms of those who resisted, and she could do nothing to help them. They were too far gone. She could only watch in helpless agony.

Her eyes were drawn upward. Looking down upon this death and destruction stood ominous dark-robed figures. It took her a moment to recognize them. The Masters of the Jedi Council, and their shadows behind them. They had fallen so far that they were Jedi no longer.

And then, she caught sight of her own face among them. Fallen to the dark, along with the others. 

She awoke with a gasp, still in her pitch-black cell in the depths of the Temple. Her eyes snapped open, but she could see nothing in the tiny room.

A nightmare? Or... no, it had the feel of a prophetic vision. The Force was showing her what awaited the galaxy if she did nothing. The Jedi fallen, and the Republic with them. Everything she believed in, destroyed from the inside out.

No. She would not allow it. If that was the future that awaited them all, then she had to fight back against it, any way that she could.

She adjusted her position into a pose of meditation, sitting quietly until her rapid heartbeat had calmed. Then she focused inward again, letting the Force flow through her. Quinn had been so distracted by her other prey that she had not reinforced her initial attempt at controlling Yenaia. She would regret her mistake.

The Force showed Yenaia what she had to do. It had told her to seek the light once before. She knew now the task before her was not merely to _find_ the bearer of the light, but to _save_ her.

Deep within the Force, Yenaia worked on her own healing. Her natural talents had made her resistant to whatever it was Quinn had done. She was close to being free of it. All she needed to do, then, was avoid notice until the time was right to act.

***

Meena found Cait and Gat sitting in the cargo bay on a pair of crates, passing a bottle of something between them. The Wanderer's crew had watched the news broadcast about the fate of the Phoenix in stunned silence, no one saying a word, until finally Cait and Gat both left the room.

Freezing in the doorway, Meena wasn't sure if she would be welcome right now. She worried her presence would be intruding on their grief. Sure, she was Cait's lover, but she hadn't truly been part of their clan. She barely knew most of those who'd served aboard the Phoenix. She certainly hadn't known them the way Cait and her brother had.

Cait turned bloodshot eyes up to Meena and wordlessly offered her the bottle. 

Gat actually managed words. "Pull up some deck plating, Meena. You were part of the circle, too."

Meena came to sit by Cait, feeling her eyes grow damp. "I'm sorry," she managed, taking the bottle. She took a swig, then passed it back. It wasn't terribly strong, but it was something.

"They were good people," Cait said. Meena could tell she was trying like crazy to be stoic about it, but she could also tell how much Cait just wanted to scream and cry, to hit something and be comforted.... But Cait wouldn't do any of that, because she knew if she gave in, then no one would be able to function. Gat would go to pieces, as would Meena herself.

Cait denied what she needed for the good of others; that was just who she was.

"Good people who died with their boots on," Gat echoed. He fished out his datapad and passed it to Meena. It was covered in witness statements and first-hand accounts of what had happened at Taris. How the Phoenix, alone and heavily outgunned, had stood up to a fleet claiming to be Mandalorian. 

How the last vessel of the Free Mandalorian Fleet had denounced the pretenders, and stood between innocents and harm in the name of Mandalore. How a fleet had emerged from Mandalorian space to come to the Phoenix's aid, but it was too late. The ship, their friends, were lost. All they could do was mourn, and see that they had not died in vain. The fleet attacking Taris was destroyed, and the Mandalorians had left, after sharing what little medical and humanitarian aid they could spare the people of Taris.

"Sallis called the crew 'The Protectors of Mandalore'," Cait said in a voice rough with grief. "The reinforcing fleet echoed the name.... Now, their spirit is spreading across the border territories of Mandalorian space."

"Elements from all the clans are gathering," Gat added. "Not to go to war, but to guard the peace. To protect and honor what the Phoenix tried to do."

Meena handed Gat's datapad back with a shaking hand. Then she wrapped her arms around herself, tears slipping down her face. "I wish I'd known them better," she whispered.

"I think," Cait said, taking a swig of the bottle and passing it back to Meena, "that we all knew them at their best."

Meena took the bottle and took another drink. She managed a shaky little laugh. "I guess that means Lodus is a hero now, huh?" she asked.

Gat laughed, too. "Yes, yes, he most definitely is. Him and Lug and Sallis... all of them are."

Cait joined in on the laughter. "I can just picture Lug... 'Oh joy, _another_ title... where's the victory feast?!'"

Meena half-laughed and half-sobbed, biting her lip.

Cait put a hand on Meena's left shoulder, and Gat put his hand on the other. "It's all right," Cait whispered. "Tears don't dishonor the dead. Quite the reverse, actually."

Meena flung one arm around each of them. She gave up trying to hold back her tears, sobbing in earnest now.

That set Cait and Gat off right along with her. The three of them held each other and cried for what felt like forever, but eventually they all wound down, tears becoming quiet, clutching embraces becoming comforting hugs. 

At length, they extricated themselves from one another and Gat reached for the nearly empty bottle. " _Oyacyir iviin'yc!_ " he called. "Live fast!" He drank and passed it to Cait.

She took the bottle. " _Akaanir pirusti!_ Fight well!" She drank and passed it to Meena.

" _Ganar a mesh'la kyr'am!_ " She completed the oath and drank the final sip. 

Cait and Gat blinked at her in surprise. 

"Have a beautiful ending, right?" she asked them. "I've been studying, when I can. Did I say it wrong?"

"Meena," Gat laughed, "you are full of surprises. Welcome to the Clan." 

***

With the Wanderer safely ensconced in a public docking bay on Coruscant under its new ID, Liana called a meeting of the crew in the main hold to attempt to come up with a plan.

This was proving difficult. 

Like everyone else, Liana was frustrated to be so close and yet no nearer to rescuing Kara. She wanted nothing more than go get her adopted daughter back. But she knew they needed to be careful. The Jedi Temple was the seat of their enemies' power, in the center of the capital of the Republic. It was going to be heavily defended. They needed to be careful.

Liana was irritated, but Renn... he was beyond rational thought. Her partner would not be still. He kept pacing the room. Normally, she would excuse it; she knew that pacing helped him think. 

Ever since they'd landed on Coruscant, Renn had been visibly agitated. His constant changes of direction and the snarling anger that boiled off of him had even driven Kara's wyvern to avoid him. The little beast had taken shelter in their dormitory. 

Meena, too, looked at him in concern. "Rennie, you need to calm down."

"I can't kriffing calm down," he said. "She's out there, in pain, and we're not doing anything!"

"Renn," Liana said, her tail lashing, "we need a plan first. We can't just go charging in blind."

"I'm going to go find her. That's my plan," he snapped. 

"That is not a plan. If she's inside the Jedi Temple, as we suspect, that would be suicide. Renn, it won't help her if you get yourself killed." Liana met his eyes. His fists clenched, but finally he sat again, looking away from her.

A tone sounded over the ship's intercom. Someone had requested entry into their assigned docking bay. As per his protocol, B4 trundled toward the cockpit to answer the person at the bay's outer hatch via the ship's comm system. A moment later, he returned to the main hold.

"Captain Liana, Master Renn, there is a Miraluka at the docking bay entrance, requesting entry."

"What? Why?" Liana asked, distracted. If she could not calm Renn down, she would have Cait and Gat hold him down while she sedated him....

"She claims to represent a religious order, and has come on behalf of Saint Nahlen, the patron of Idiot Children."

Liana stared at him. Behind her, Meena and Renn let out almost identical gasps of disbelief.

"Let her in," Liana said after a moment.

"Wait," Renn protested, "it could be a trap."

"What the hell's going on?!" Gat demanded, confused. Cait was checking her blasters.

"No, it's okay," Meena told Cait. "I think Gat's about to meet his hero."

Renn snorted. "If it's really her."

"It is," Liana said. "It has to be. No one else would know to say that exact phrasing."

B4 escorted a female humanoid in ornate robes aboard the Wanderer. Her hands were crossed before her, concealed up her long sleeves. "I greet you all," she said, bowing low, "in the name of Nahlen the patron saint of idiot children...." She turned as she rose, as if addressing each of them. "Is this the complete crew? Are there not... others?"

"That's a long story, and part of why we are here," Liana said, recognizing the woman's voice immediately. She glanced over toward Cait and Gat. "These are friends," she added.

"You are... certain of this?" the woman asked. When Meena nodded, she ripped off her veil, revealing familiar, and very distinctive, features: short dark hair, a scar across the bridge of her nose, and a black eyepatch over her right eye. "What in the name of misbegotten sanity have you lot been up to?!" Ori Ket demanded.

Gat emitted a sound somewhere between a shout and a squeak.

"Who the hell...?!" Cait asked, hands not straying from her weapons.

"Mom," Renn said, staring at her in disbelief, "what are you doing here?!"

"Where _else_ was I gonna go? The damn Republic sent a squad to pull me out of my bar. I had to leave kriffing Wagner behind to cover my escape. I'll be bloody lucky if he hasn't drunk me into bankruptcy...."

"How did you get away?" Meena asked in shock.

Ori rolled her one good eye. "Let's just say training standards for Rep Spec Ops have gone way down since I retired. I got here about half a month ago. Been gleaning various bits of intel ever since. Which is how I found you lot, by the way."

"How?" Renn asked. "I covered our tracks."

"Yes, you did, kiddo, but I knew better. They never put a warrant out for Meena, so I looked for any Corellian JY 750 registered as belonging to a purple Twi'lek. A shockingly large demographic actually. I've been on, ahem, religious mission ever since. So, what's the deal with the beefcake Jedi? Why's he back at the temple?"

"He stabbed us in the back and kidnapped Kara-" 

Liana laid a restraining hand on Renn's arm before he could start ranting again. "Like I said," she said to Ori, "it's a long story. You might as well get comfortable."

Meena was still trying to get Cait to put her blasters away. Liana introduced the two Mandalorians to Ori. Then with help from Meena, and the occasional interjection from Renn, Liana told Renn's mother what had happened since they'd parted ways last on Nal Yeshu. As they talked, Ori divested herself of her robes, revealing a truly spectacular array of gadgets and weapons.

"Fair warning, folks. You may have drawn lots or whatever, but that backstabbing son of a Hutt's _mine,"_ Ori declared when they were finished.

"Line forms behind me," Cait said ominously.

Ori glanced over at Cait, then Meena, and then back to Cait. _"Kar'taylir darasuum?"_ she asked gently. 

Cait blinked in confusion, but nodded.

Ori rubbed her chin, considering something of great import. Liana was about to ask what that meant when Renn's mother returned her attention to her. "So, we're gonna take my future daughter-in-law back from the scum-sucking Huttlickers who took her, right?"

"Damn right," Renn agreed.

Liana nodded. Having Ori here was a relief, she had to admit. Not only to her, but obviously to Renn and Meena as well. "We were just trying to come up with a plan that does not involve your idiot son doing something stupid and getting us all killed," she said.

"Hey!" Renn protested. But at least he had the good grace to look guilty. 

"Right then," Ori said. "First things first. We need to inventory skills and resources. I already know you three pretty well, but you two... Cait and Gat, right?"

Gat just nodded, starstruck.

"Great," Ori continued. "I know you can fight, but what other skills do you have that you think will be applicable to sneaking around?"

Gat spoke up. "Tech! And slicing, Miss Ori."

"Oh, good gracious, now there's two of them," Ori commented. "Good to know, kid. And you, Cait?"

"I was mostly starship command, but I'm good at street-level tactics too."

"How bad's your shoulder?"

"Not too bad. First-degree blaster burn."

Liana was heartily amused as Ori turned to Meena for confirmation. Renn's mother had lost none of her ability to read people. "We've also got a small attack bomber stowed in the cargo bay," she added. "Other than that, the Wanderer is mostly as as you remember it."

"Good to know." Ori nodded. "On the positive side, security around the Jedi Temple is usually tight as a drum, but it seems they're a bit short on manpower lately. I hung out on their front steps the other day for a few hours before a security droid shooed me out. We need more intel though."

"I've been trying to get into their systems since they declared us fugitives," Renn said. "Republic government was easy to crack, but the Jedi's systems are locked down tight. I might be able to get in with physical access, but it would be a moot point if we were already inside the building."

"I could give it a go," Gat suggested. "If you dont mind me borrowing your system, Falani."

"Yeah, right," Renn snorted. "If I can't do it, no one can."

Ori looked him full in the face. "All right, son. Then you get to stay here and run computer overwatch while the rest of us are out in the field."

"No!" Renn protested. "I need to be there!"

"Then perhaps you should accept help when it's offered," Liana said. "You're not the only one who wants to get Kara back, Renn."

Renn looked at Gat. "Right. Sorry, I-." He shook his head. "Sorry." 

"No worries, man. I get it." He put a hand on Renn's shoulder. "We're gonna get her back."

Renn just nodded without saying anything else.

"All right, grab what you need. Renn, get Gat up and running. Then we'll get to work."


	4. Faith

Valen Kell endured yet another long-winded speech by the Senator of Ord Mantell — or was it Ord Cestus? He'd become lost in his own thoughts as the presentations dragged on interminably.

Beside him, Ashee Quinn muttered, "Are you certain we cannot just take control of the entire Senate?"

The Force told him she'd meant it as levity, but her words gave Master Kell pause. He had no illusions about what their course of action would mean for the greater galaxy, the order they would bring to the chaotic sectors of Sith and Hutt space. But in order to do so and remain within the light, they must use their control over the mechanics of the Republic government sparingly. Already they trod close to the abyss; care must be maintained. Care and constant vigilance against the long fall into darkness.

True, it would be infinitely more efficient to just seize direct control of the Senate, to bring the minds of all the squabbling diplomats into line. _But that way, evil lies_ , he berated himself. No, they had to be a scalpel, not a mace.

"And in conclusion," the Senator was saying, "we of the outer colonial territories fully support Master Kell's plans for a full invasion of Sith space."

It could not come soon enough, Kell mused. Most of his Shadow Jedi were even now infiltrating the sectors still under Sith control, paving the way for the Republic military to roll victorious over worlds already softened up for them by Kell's minions. They'd had to all but empty the Temple to muster that many, but the sacrifice was well worth it.

After all, it wasn't a war that Kell wanted, but a victory.

***

Yenaia awoke to a feeling of urgency in the Force. Instinct, or maybe foresight, told her that now was the chance she'd been waiting for.

She carefully reached out with her senses. She detected neither Quinn nor that terrifying stillness in the Temple, and only a few of the Shadows, the broken Jedi, nearby. None in the immediate vicinity. Ah. That must be it. That was why the Force prompted her to act now.

This might be the only opportunity she would ever have.

A nudge with the Force and the door to her cell slid open with a gentle hiss, flooding her cell with the harsh light of the hallway. Yenaia opened her eyes, taking a moment to adjust to the brightness before she rose. Her legs felt oddly weak from disuse; she had not moved much in however long she had been prisoner here.

Yenaia cast out her senses once more, and found the presence of her fellow prisoner again, still trapped behind a wall of wrongness. She strode purposefully toward it.

A few doors down the hall from her own prison, Yenaia opened another cell.

There was a woman inside. She wore a simple shift, much like the one their captors had also dressed Yenaia in. Her hands and feet were bound, and her head bowed, her blond hair falling forward around her face and obscuring her features.

She knew the bearer of the light instantly. The woman was surprisingly young, perhaps Yenaia's own age or even younger.

Yenaia released the restraints, and caught the woman as she slumped forward. Her face was blank, showing no expression or emotion. Whatever Quinn had done to this poor soul, she was not going to be able to free herself from it.

Healing bodies was a relatively simple process in the Force; healing minds was much more complex. Carefully, Yenaia reached out through the Force, an offering of help.

***

Surrounded by lethal cold fire, Kara cramped in upon herself.

She did not dare to relax; she could not dare to move. The box in which she'd wedged herself was small, chokingly claustrophobic, and filled with the reek of her own fear.

But then, through the cold came... was that a hint of warm light? Maybe... There, just beyond the ring of intense frigid fire, was something like the true light of a gentle sun on a winter's day. She'd been lost in the harsh, searing cold for so long, was she even sure what warmth was anymore?

She couldn't trust it. It had to be an illusion. It could _not_ be true... but what if it was?

Tentatively, she pressed a hand toward the warmth.

***

Yenaia felt the tenuous connection as the other woman reached for her in the Force. Quinn had tried to do the same to both of them. Tried to suppress her will and make her into an obedient creature.

As their minds touched, Yenaia saw Quinn's handiwork in the same way the young woman did. Icy fire all around her, and the core of herself locked away. She knew she could undo this if she had enough time, but it would be more difficult than working within her own mind had been.

She wasn't sure if the connection was strong enough for communication, but Yenaia tried to convey who she was. _I'm a healer, I'm here to help you._

What came back wasn't words; it was too primitive for that. It was a welter of emotions: gratitude, hopelessness, even despair. It cut Yenaia's soul what had been done to this woman.

Yenaia closed her eyes and rested her hands against the young woman's temples. The Force flowed through her and between them.

This would be difficult, delicate work, taking time and focus. It couldn't be rushed.

Training and instinct took over. Yenaia's will and power, honed by years of study, began to slowly unmake the freezing fire that held the woman prisoner.

As she broke through the barriers between her mind and that of her patient, Yenaia began to get more textured sensation from her. Fear gave way to wariness, not of Yenaia, but that they would be discovered. Yenaia could sympathize with her concerns. Quinn may be elsewhere right now, but not forever, and she knew at least some of the Shadows were still at the Temple.

Pushing away such thoughts, Yenaia redoubled her efforts.

***

The plan was to go scout out the area around the Jedi Temple, to see if they could find an opening. Gat had stayed behind on the ship to run comms, with the droids to help. Liana had taken the hot rod, so she could provide extra support if they needed it. The rest of them were in an open-top speeder, heading toward the government district of Coruscant.

Renn sat next to his mother, who was driving, in the front of the speeder. She hadn't said where she'd gotten it, and he didn't ask. Cait and Meena were sitting together in the back. Ori was actually driving like a normal person for a change, which made sense. Right now, they didn't want to attract attention.

"Damn it," Ori said suddenly.

Renn looked over at his mother. "What's wrong?"

"There's someone watching us." Renn started to turn his head to search, but Ori snapped, "Don't look! He's three positions behind us."

"What do we do?" he asked. So much for not attracting attention.

"Well," his mother said, "you three hang onto something. If he makes a move...." Even as she spoke, the strobe lights on a police vehicle began to flash and it surged forward.

Ori floored the accelerator and threw the speeder into a steep power dive. Renn heard Cait give a startled scream and realized she'd never had the pleasure — or horror, depending — of riding with Ori.

Their little speeder dropped through three different traffic lanes, cutting through the other paths at a near perpendicular. They passed so close to the front of a huge hover truck that Renn clearly saw the driver's look of shock.

"Ori!" Meena screamed, as their speeder nearly missed colliding with another as it evened out. She had braced herself against the back of Renn's seat.

"How did they-?" Renn started to ask, when the bond suddenly flared to life with a surge of something so muddled and intense he couldn't make sense of it. But it was unmistakably Kara's presence. He clutched his newly aching head with one hand, trying to focus.

"Rennie?" Meena asked. "What's wrong?"

"It's Kara! I just felt something, but I'm not sure exactly what...."

"Can you tell where she is?" she asked.

Renn shook his head. "Not really. Just vaguely... that way." He gestured in the direction they were already going, toward the Jedi Temple.

"That's not news, Falani," Cait snapped.

"At least that means we know she's alive, right?" Meena said.

"Yeah." Renn hesitated. "I think she's finally fighting it off, whatever they're trying to do to her."

Ori sighed. "All well and good, but the constables have reinforcements swarming toward us." She slewed the speeder around, nearly piling up a dozen other assorted vehicles. "This is just going to be one of those days."

***

A quiet ripple in the Force pulled Valen Kell's attention from the gathering of Republic officials still opposed to the invasion of Sith space.

Master Quinn stood nearby, debating the finer points with a trio of Senators from the core. She did not seem to be aware of the disturbance yet.

"Master Kell?" Chancellor Brox asked. "Are you well?"

Kell pulled his attention to the here and now. "Quite, my friend. Think nothing of it. You were saying?"

The Chancellor continued, making the arguments he'd been prepared with before this session began. The Sith are a destabilizing presence, they are only biding their time until they can strike against us once more, they fund the very terrorists who attacked Castell, and so on.

Kell heard none of it, his mind out in the currents of the Force. Yes... a new factor had emerged. Familiar, but quiet, quick-footed as a thief on the prowl. He should return to the Temple, and quickly. The vision was in danger.

Across the room, Quinn caught his eye. She'd felt it, too, then.  

"You will please excuse me," Kell said to the knot of dignitaries around him. "Something has arisen that requires my immediate attention."

"Of course, Master Kell." Brox said smoothly.

Kell bowed and left, Quinn hot on his heels.

There was very little time.

***

It took time and patience, but Yenaia unraveled the worst of what Quinn had done. She could feel that she was close to a breakthrough, although her patient would still need time to recover before she fully came back to herself.

Focused on her delicate work, Yenaia didn't realize anything was amiss until a sudden warning  of a presence close by resounded through the Force.

Yenaia knew she was courting disaster the longer she stayed, and her time kept dwindling, but she had no choice. The damage had been too extensive. She withdrew carefully from the woman's mind and settled her gently to the floor. Yenaia rose bare moments before the door opened behind her. She would have to face one of the Shadows to escape.

"Well," came an unwelcome, familiar sneer, "I felt Quinn's hold on Kara slip, but I never thought it would be because the little healer girl was free. 'Master' Quinn must be more incompetent than even I thought."

Yenaia slowly turned to see a black-haired man in dark brown Jedi robes lounging against the open door.

"Aeron Rhade," she said. She had heard the news of his dramatic departure from the Jedi last year, but she hadn't realized he'd returned to them since. She was not surprised, though; he had always been Master Kell's obedient pet. "I'm surprised to find you _here,"_ she said, unable to keep a hint of disdain out of her voice, "and not trailing around after Master Kell like a lost child."

"Aeron?" he asked, his voice going icy. He brought his hand idly out of the voluminous sleeve to reveal a lightsaber hilt. "He isn't here anymore. The question, little girl, is... why are you?"

It was not just his words, but his demeanor, that told her that something was not right. This was definitely not the fellow student she'd known at Solara. But whatever had befallen the poor boy she'd known, it was different than what had been done to the Shadows. This man was... broken.

Yenaia reached into the Force for strength, and it stiffened her spine. She glared at him in defiance. "I'm here to save _her,"_ she said, indicating the blond woman behind her. "If you do not stand aside, I will go through you to do so."

"Oh, really?" He ignited his lightsaber. It, too, was wrong, broken; though the blade was green, it was more a color of corruption and rotting flesh than the bright viridian green normally associated with Jedi blades. "What are you going to do? Bandage me into submission?"

Yenaia didn't bother to answer his taunt. She simply reached out with the Force. She cut through his mental defenses with ease. She _had_ just been intending to quickly overpower him and knock him unconscious, but what she found inside his mind was both fascinating and horrifying.

This man — Rhade, as he called himself now — was a monster squatting in the shambles of someone else's mind. Fragments of that original psyche, perhaps the Aeron she had once known, had been lifted, copied, and dropped around the monster, to try and keep it contained. But those bits were now twisted and destroyed, crushed by the now-dominant personality.

And this had all been done to him on purpose.

The touch of Rhade's fractured mind was sickening, but it explained why he'd had such scanty mental shields. His mind was too fragile to support them.

She reached past his consciousness to the functions of his baser mind. She caused his knees to lock, and the hand holding his blade to open.

With a grunt of shocked consternation, Rhade fell over backwards, dropping his lightsaber. As Yenaia scooped up her fellow prisoner to help her out of the cell, she gave one last flick of her mind against the foul monster dwelling in the remnants of that tattered person.

Rhade cracked like a dropped mirror. The blow would not cause him lasting harm, but it would incapacitate him for perhaps the next day or two.

Yenaia turned away from him, and helped the blond woman to her feet. She was starting to come back to herself, it seemed. They made it out into the hallway.

She surveyed Rhade's crumpled form, then locked the cell door behind them, leaving the monster to his own inner torment.

Yenaia wrapped a supportive arm around the woman, taking some of her weight and guiding her down the hallway. They left the the block of small rooms where they'd been held. She didn't detect any other prisoners nearby.

When they reached an intersection, she realized she wasn't sure which way to go. She had only been to the Temple on Coruscant a handful of times, usually when travelling with her own Master. She didn't have time to wander around searching for the way out or hoping for a sign from the Force. She accessed the first computer terminal she came across, pulling up a map.

Escaping on foot wouldn't be possible, not with her patient barely able to move on her own. She found a garage area on the map. Maybe they could escape in a vehicle.

They made their way slowly toward a speeder hangar. Yenaia was perplexed at how few people she felt nearby. This Temple should be teeming with life, but there was almost none. Mostly droids roamed the halls, and they were easy to avoid. But she didn't have time now to figure out that mystery.

When they arrived at the hangar, Yenaia found multiple airspeeders parked in neat rows. She helped the woman into the nearest one, then climbed into the driver's seat. Another quick nudge with the Force got her past any need for an activation key, and she sped off. She had no destination in mind; for now, away from the Temple would have to be enough.

***

Slowly, Kara came back to herself. She had only dim sensations of being helped through the Jedi Temple, then the light of a true sun, and wind on her face.

The feeling was familiar, and not for the first time since leaving home, she felt a pang of longing for the back of her friend, the gliderwing, and deep blue sky filled only with clouds and boundless possibility.

Her rescuer sat beside her, at the speeder's controls. At length, the walls of her mental prison slackened enough for her to communicate. "Wh- who?" she asked numbly.

The other woman appeared both startled and relieved that Kara was speaking. "My name is Yenaia Tran," she said. "I'm a Jedi healer."

"Kara," she croaked. Her throat felt like it hadn't been used in days. Maybe it hadn't. "I'm Kara Tao Vanden."

"I know that name! I overheard my Master arguing with the rest of the Council about you, before I left Solara!"

The woman's — Yenaia's — Song became so loud and bright that Kara had to rub at her temples to ease the pain of it. "Why did you help me?"

Yenaia kept her eyes ahead as she guided the speeder through the air. "It's a bit of a long story, but I think the Force sent me to find you."

Kara couldn't help it. She laughed, not out of joy, but rather sheer irony. "You and half the galaxy apparently. Why not? The more the-" She caught sight of movement in the rearview mirror. "There are several people following us. They are _not_ friendly."

"I was afraid of that. I didn't really think much past getting away from the Temple. I'll try to lose them and find someplace to hide."

That was when the lightning struck Kara's heart. An explosion of presence, a gleeful cry of happiness and the warmth of reunion all in one transcendent note of Song.

Renn was here.

Kara threw both hands in the air in pure joy. At Yenaia's startled look, she pointed off to their right. "That way!"

***

Renn suddenly pointed to their left. "Mom, that way!"

"What?" Ori demanded. She had her hands full weaving their speeder through the congested traffic of the Coruscant governmental district. It seemed half the planet's police were on their tail and more kept joining the chase.

"We need to go that way!"

"Sure, why not? Makes as much sense as anything else this trip." She bounced the speeder up against an immense hover truck and triggered the low-altitude ground skimmer field. Their vehicle leapt off the larger one and was flung into a clockwise spiral as Ori fed power to the forward vector jets, zipping the craft away from the truck, and then cutting the spiral as it leveled out along the direction Renn had indicated.

"This woman is going to be the reason I end," Cait said weakly from the backseat.

Ori continued to bob and weave through traffic that seemed to be standing still by comparison. Soon enough, another speeder hove into view ahead of them, headed vaguely towards them. It was also an open-cockpit model, with what looked like a dark-skinned young woman at the controls and next to her....

"Kara!" Cait exclaimed. "She's in that speeder!"

The driver of the oncoming speeder couldn't match Ori for sheer crazy, Renn thought, but she sure was trying. The reason for which burst through the traffic behind them. Over a dozen military-grade speeders, firing at Kara.

Not knowing how he knew, Renn called out, "Circle around below them! Match their course! Meena! Let Liana know we're going to need some backup!"

Ori probably decided it was better to not ask at this point. As Meena used her comlink to reach Liana, Ori zipped underneath the other vehicle, and threw theirs into a hard whip-crack turn. Just before they flew beneath Kara's speeder, one of the pursuers got lucky and scored a hit on its engine.

Renn's heart jumped into his throat as he watched the speeder Kara was travelling in explode. Before he could react, though, he saw two figures plummeting toward them. Kara and her companion had jumped at the last moment.

The other woman landed neatly between Meena and Cait, but Kara managed to miss the speeder entirely. For one heart-rending instant, Kara reached for him and he reached back, but then she was gone, falling to her death.

Renn grabbed for his restraint buckle in the same instant, fully intending to follow her over the edge, when the stranger shoved him back with one hand, lunging with her other hand extended toward Kara's vanishing form.

And abruptly, Kara was flying back upward, over the speeder. She dropped toward Renn's seat, and the stranger slumped, Cait and Meena grabbing her to keep her from pitching over the side.

Renn made an involuntary 'oof' sound as Kara fell hard against him. His heart hammering in his chest, he pulled her into his lap, bracing her with both arms around her waist. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders automatically, holding on.

Renn vaguely heard Meena saying something to the stranger, asking if she was all right. He thought he heard someone, maybe Cait, say the word Jedi, but it barely registered. He didn't care about anything right now except Kara, and the fact that she was real, in his arms, here.

There were a million things he wanted to say to her. But everything he'd thought about saying, everything he'd planned... just went away. His mind went blank of anything but relief that she was alive and here. Words abandoned him. "Hey," he finally managed.

She blinked at him, like she couldn't believe he even existed, let alone was here. "Hey," she finally managed.

"Welcome back, Kara," Ori said from the driver's seat, pushing Kara's feet out of her way. "Now, hang on tight. Mama's driving."

Kara gripped Renn tighter as Ori resumed bobbing and weaving through traffic. Ahead, a wall of highly irate Coruscant Security vehicles converged on their little speeder. Behind, the Republic Military was quickly eating the gap between them.

"Liana," Ori said into her comlink, "we're going introduce our new friends to our old friends. You ready with the party favors?"

Renn heard Liana's response over his own earbud comlink. "Ready and able. Just be sure you are clear of the blast radius."

Ori made straight for the center of the mass of Security speeders, which were hastily pulling into an interlocking roadblock formation.

"Hang on!" Ori cried and brought their speeder into a tight barrel roll, cork-screwing straight through the wall of constables. The pursuing military craft had to go around, even as the Coruscant Security troops tried to resume the chase. The result was a giant snarl of speeders trying to mince their way forward through each other.

Into this chaos zipped Liana's hot rod. It had begun life as a high-speed fighter bomber, and even now, as she appeared from seemingly nowhere, Liana dropped a series of small ion grenades from the hot rod's open bomb bay right into the mass of jostling vehicles.

The grenades went off on contact, each sending out concentric rings of energy-disruptive ions. The waves shut down engines, killed computers, and rendered nearly every speeder in the whole mass of them useless, leaving them to fall out of the sky, emergency parachutes the only things that prevented the deaths of every soul in the traffic jam.

Above it all, Liana slipped, all but unseen, back into the Coruscant skies.

***

Valen Kell looked upon the prone from of his Padawan, and felt the anger begin to boil within him. He suppressed it instantly, but he could not extinguish the fire, only contain it.

"Tran is gone as well," Quinn said. "She must have slipped my control somehow and freed Vanden."

Kell said nothing, merely turned on a heel and stalked from the cell.

"What of Rhade?" Quinn asked as he left.

Kell called from the hallway, "He is useless to us until he wakes. Leave him where he lies."

This had been the core of the disturbance. The Bladedancer was in the world once more, and the Jedi hadn't enough numbers to guard against her.

If he hadn't been so near releasing his ever-darkening rage, Kell would laugh from the irony.


	5. Reunion

Ori took a very circuitous route back to the Wanderer's landing bay after they eluded what few of their pursuers had survived Liana's sneak attack. 

Kara had never seen anything so lovely as that poor battered old freighter. She pulled Renn's jacket closer around her shoulders as Ori descended to land just inside the bay. She wasn't cold, but he'd insisted on draping it over her as soon as they were out of danger. She took the sweet gesture without argument.

A few seconds later, a small and decidedly nasty-looking starfighter dropped out of the darkening sky and slotted itself neatly into the Wanderer's open cargo bay. 

Almost as soon as Kara climbed out of the speeder, Meena was there, hugging her. "I'm so glad you're okay," she said.

Kara smiled. "Me, too. It's so good to be home. I- I never thought I'd see it again." Renn put an arm around her waist to steady her as Meena let go of her.

"You lot hurry and get on the ship," Ori said gruffly, as soon as they had all climbed out. "I'm gonna go ditch this speeder before someone recognizes it." She lifted back up into the twilight.

Renn and Meena steered Kara up the gangplank, Cait and Yenaia following. Kara could Hear Cait's wariness in the Music, and so she wasn't terribly surprised when they reached the main cabin and turned to find that Cait had drawn a blaster. "Not to sound too dramatic, but who is our new friend here and why are trusting her?"

"Cait," Kara snapped, "put that away. This is Yenaia. Yes, she's a Jedi, but she isn't like Aeron. She saved me, not just from the Temple, but from whatever the Jedi Council was trying to put me through. I trust her with my life."

"As far as your life goes, that's fine," Cait said. "But her kind made us all wanted fugitives, and worse."

"Besides," Gat said from the hatch leading to the cockpit and the dormitories, "not to be paranoid, but that was way too convenient." He also had a weapon drawn, but his was pointed at Kara. "You escape just as we're in the vicinity? How do we know they didn't _succeed_ with you, Kara? Aeron seemed almost all right until he stabbed us all in the back."

Renn physically put himself between Gat and Kara. "She's fine, Gat. You're just gonna have to trust me."

Kara put a hand on Renn's shoulder. "Thanks, Renn. But I can speak for myself." 

Renn searched her eyes, and reluctantly stepped aside. 

No one else moved as she slowly strode over to Gat, making sure the muzzle of his weapon stayed pointed at her the whole time. She stopped when the gun just barely poked the center of her chest. 

"This is what they want," Kara said. "They want us divided and distrustful. The only way we're going to win is to believe in one another. To have faith in one another. I trust you, Gat. I trust Cait, and I trust Yenaia. Do you trust me, or not?"

Liana stopped short in the doorway coming from the cargo hold at the sight of this tableau, her eyes darting around the room. She rested a hand on her own blaster, but at some unspoken signal from Renn, she stayed quiet.

Gat wavered. Kara could see it his eyes and hear it in his Song. Eventually, he put his blaster back in its holster. "You're right," he said, not meeting her eyes. "I'd rather believe and be wrong than mistrust a friend."

"I understand your wariness," Yenaia offered, looking at Cait, who still had a gun trained on her. "They tried to do the same to me as they have done to the other Jedi, as they tried to do to Kara. I don't know what I can offer as proof, but I will do anything you wish."

"How did you get away?" Meena asked.

"I was trained as a healer," the young Jedi said. "I was able to resist their conversion process, and to undo the damage. In a way, Kara gave me that opportunity. Master Quinn was so distracted by her that they never noticed that I had freed myself."

"Why did you help Kara, anyway?" Renn asked. "You could have just escaped on your own."

"That's not the way of the Jedi," Yenaia said. "And... I recognized her. The Force sent me to find her, to find the source of the light." 

She sighed, pain clear in her voice when she spoke again. "The Jedi Council turned on my Master and murdered him. Not long after that, I felt Kara's light across the galaxy, and I knew what I needed to do. I spent more than a year running from the Jedi and searching for that light before they captured me." 

She looked down at the floor. "The Jedi as they are now... there is a sickness in all of them. A growing darkness that has consumed them from within. I can sense it. I want to restore the Jedi Order to what it should be. For that, I am willing to fight."

"Cait?" Meena asked quietly. She laid a gentle hand on Cait's arm. "Please? I trust Kara, too."

"It's not Kara I don't trust," Cait said. She lowered her blaster to her side, but didn't put it away. "But I don't know this lady, and I don't trust Jedi as a rule."

Liana spoke up then, taking a step closer. "What do you mean by 'a sickness'?" she asked Yenaia.

"I'm not sure I can explain it to someone who is not Force sensitive," Yenaia said. "There's something wrong, not with their bodies but with their presence in the Force... almost as if they've been corrupted by something. I've never seen anything like it before."

"Like a core of something that feels like the opposite of the Force?" Kara asked.

"Yes," Yenaia said, her eyes wide as she stared at Kara.

Renn took Kara's hand, a gesture both seeking and offering comfort. She gently squeezed his fingers. He knew what she was talking about. She'd already told him about it after Castell.

"Kara?" Liana asked. "Isn't that how you described the Silence to us?"

"What do you mean by 'Silence'?" Yenaia looked startled at the word.

Kara took a deep breath. "I wasn't trained to use the Force the way you were, Yenaia. I was taught to Listen to the Song sung by all life, the Music. I don't 'see' or 'sense' you in the Force, I Hear your Song in the Music. 

"A little over a year ago, I fought a Sith Lord who had been taken over by something that came from outside our universe, a sort of anti-Force. From him, I heard no Song whatsoever. He was still, silent. It was cold, like death. When I defeated him, the Silence poured out of him, and took over Renn." Kara squeezed his hand again. "That light you sensed was me saving Renn from the Silence. I burned it out of him, and the rest of the galaxy, or so I thought."

Yenaia closed her eyes a moment. "That explains...." Her eyes opened again, and she studied Kara and Renn intently. 

Renn took a wary step back. "What are you doing?"

"I've never seen someone become part of a Force bond who is not at least a little bit sensitive. But you have _no_ sensitivity... except _through_ Kara." Yenaia pursed her lips, considering. "It seems an exceptionally strong bond."

"It's more complicated than that, even," Kara said. "Aeron was exposed to the fringes of our bond. It's not nearly as strong for him as the two of us, but he can use it to find us."

"Possibly not," Yenaia said, shaking her head. "Your bond with Aeron may have been broken." 

"What do you mean?" Kara asked.

"Aeron, as he was, doesnt exist anymore. His mind was all but destroyed by one or all of the Council Masters. What's left, what I found there, was more monster than man."

"No," Meena said firmly, "I know Aeron is still in there. He could have killed me, but he didn't. He stopped himself. He couldn't go through with it."

Renn shook his head but didn't say anything.

Meena turned pleading eyes on Yenaia. "It is possible, isn't it?"

"I suppose," the Jedi said. "I couldn't tell when I touched his mind earlier. It was... confused and shattered. There may still be something that remains of the man we knew as Aeron, but it is tenuous at best." Her gaze shifted back to Kara. "Even if he can still find you through your Force bond, what I did to him when he tried to prevent our escape should keep him from following for a day or so."

"What did you do to him?" Renn asked with a smirk.

Yenaia considered her answer a moment before she responded. "If his mind is a house of cards right now," she said at last, "then I knocked it to the ground."

Cait grinned and finally holstered her blaster.

Liana came over and hugged both Kara and Renn tightly. "It is good to have you back, Kara." Then she pulled back a little with a sniff, taking in the coarse, dirty shift Kara was wearing beneath Renn's jacket. "Perhaps you want to get cleaned up? We should save further explanations and planning until Ori gets back, at any rate." She looked over at Yenaia, who wore a similar garment. "I can show you to a refresher if you would like to wash up as well?"

"Yes, please," Yenaia said.

"Meena?" Liana asked. "Can you please find the Jedi something else to wear?"

"On it," Meena said, and she started down the hall.

"Are you hurt at all? Do you want me to help you get cleaned up?" Renn asked Kara quietly.

Kara didn't say anything. She just clung to him and refused to let go. That seemed to be answer enough for him. He helped her toward their bedroom, supporting her with an arm around her waist.

The moment the door opened, a storm of wings and happy trumpeting trills descended on her.

"He missed you, too," Renn said.

Kara gasped. "I- I thought Aeron killed him. He just slapped him out of the air and then he didn't move." The wyvern hawk settled onto her shoulder and squawked angrily, as if lecturing her.

Renn chuckled. "I thought I told you, don't ever make us do something like that again," he said, his voice stern. The wyvern made a noise of agreement from somewhere in the vicinity of Kara's hair.

Kara laughed, at the Songs of love and relief coming from both Renn and the wyvern, and also at her own wonder at being home once more. "Well, technically," she said, getting back some of her humor, "all you did was swing by and pick me up."

Renn snorted and pulled her into his arms again. "We _came_ for you." He tilted her chin up with one hand and kissed her. It was soft and sweet, full of love and need and everything he couldn't find the words to say aloud. She gratefully returned the kiss, arms tight around him.

"We're always gonna come for you," he said, when they broke the kiss. "You know that, right? No matter what. There's nothing in the entire kriffing galaxy that could keep me away from you."

She buried her face against his chest and cried as he gently stroked her hair. Not in sadness, but in release. All the fear, all the anxiety, all the dread flowed up and out of her as each tear fell. When the negative emotions had drained away to nothing, still the tears fell, in joy, happiness and contentment.

She was home, Renn was holding her, her family and friends were nearby, and the wyvern was alive and well. Outside there may be demons and armies and powers undreamt that wanted to cleave her from her own, but here and now, all was right in the universe, at least for a time.

***

Liana took Yenaia to the other dormitory and showed her to the refresher. Meena brought the Jedi woman some of the clothes that Aeron had left behind, thinking that she'd feel most comfortable in one of his simple robes.

That taken care of, the Wanderer's Captain returned to the main hold to get herself a cup of caf and prepare some soup for all of them. Something simple and warm. Their planning session was going to have to be a working dinner, by necessity. It was the only way she knew of to make sure everyone ate something.

Ori returned not long after, to find Liana waiting for the others.

"So what happened while I was gone?" Ori asked, grabbing a cup of caf.

Liana filled her in on what Kara and Yenaia had revealed in her absence.

Slowly, everyone drifted back to the main hold from what they'd been doing. First Gat, then Cait and Meena together. Then Renn and Kara came in, hands clasped as if they couldn't bear to let go of each other. Kara's hair was still damp, and she wore clean clothes. Her wyvern friend rode on her shoulder again as well. 

A few moments later, Yenaia appeared in the doorway, wearing robes that were a little too large for her, but otherwise clean. The wyvern clambered behind Kara's neck to stare at the young woman. Yenaia hesitated, then slipped inside the door, quietly taking a seat off to the side. She looked as if she wasn't certain if she should be here or not. 

Liana smiled at her. "Please, you are welcome here," she told the Jedi, motioning her closer. "Would you like something to eat and drink?"

"I- Yes, thank you," Yenaia said.

When everyone was settled around the table or nearby with food, Liana looked around the room. "We didn't really plan past retrieving Kara," she said, "but it's clear to me that we cannot leave things like this. Kara? I'm sorry, but we need to know what happened to you."

Kara took a deep breath, like she was bracing herself for something difficult. "I've been running from this since Castell," she said. "But the fact is, until we face down the Jedi Council, they are just going to keep chasing us. That means confronting, and probably killing, Master Valen Kell. He has the Silence in him, and that's the core of everything."

"Are you sure?" Renn's voice shook a little bit. He'd never told Liana the entire scope of what the Silence had done to him, but she could guess from the way he had acted afterward.

Kara nodded. "He came to me in my cell. I felt it. I'm sure." She set her palms against the tabletop and pushed unsteadily to her feet. "But when it happens, you all need to be far away from me. Especially you, Renn. I have to face him alone."

That prompted protests from everyone, even the droids.

"I mean it!" Kara shouted over their objections. "Last time, the Silence possessed Renn because he was nearby, and it knew that I couldn't hurt him. I'm not risking one of you. Not again."

"More important question," Ori said, easing Kara back down beside Renn. "How does a heroic lightsaber duel with Captain Gravel-Breath help get the deathmarks off of us? He's a Jedi. A hero, to the rest of the Republic. Taking Kell down just makes us look like murderers and terrorists."

A thought occurred to Liana. "If we disgraced Kell, showed how he's violating the Republic's own laws, then his power base would be taken away from him. We could confront him later, when he doesn't have the weight of the government behind him."

Kara seemed to accept her argument, but Liana recognized the flash in her eyes. Kara didn't believe for one moment they could avoid a confrontation now. 

"What we need is proof of what they've been doing," Meena said. "Unless we can prove what we say, no one's going to believe us over the Jedi."

Yenaia snapped her fingers. "The Council's records!" Everyone turned to look at her. "The Council keeps recordings in the Temple archives of any Senatorial sessions where Jedi are involved. They also keep the mission assignments of all Jedi there, too. If there's evidence of their wrong-doing, it may be there. Perhaps we can use that information to prove how they're controlling the Senate and the Republic government." 

Cait leaned forward, her eyes almost predatory. "Coupled with our proof that Ashee Quinn was posing as Baroness Ordo, leader of the occupation of Castell.... I think we might just be able to sew everything up in one nice little net."

"It's not enough just to have the information," Renn said. "If only we know, they can keep sending people to kill us to keep their secret. We won't be safe until the secret's out. We need to go public. Broadcast it across the entire holonet."

"And we do that, how?" Kara asked.

"We need a more powerful transmitter than the ship's comm system, that's for sure," Renn said. He looked over at Gat. "Think we could rig something up to boost our signal that much?"

Gat let out an explosive breath. "We could theoretically boost it enough to get the signal through most of the system, maybe even the sector, but not much further. We need something that could saturate the whole galaxy." He frowned. "Even if we _could_ , it'd fry all the Wanderer's electronics. We'd be beached."

"You are not blowing up my ship," Liana said.

"Then we need to find a stronger transmitter somewhere nearby we can use." Renn pulled out his datapad. "I bet the Republic government has one on this rock. Let's find out." 

Liana tilted her head as her partner suddenly grinned. "What is it, Renn?"

"Well, that's interesting," he said. "There's a transmitter for a holonet channel that broadcasts news and live feeds of Senate sessions. It's not in the Senate building, but on top of a low-security office building several blocks away."

"Still in the core of the Governmental District though," Ori cautioned. "That's not going not be a stroll through the park, kiddo. Coruscant Security's response time's going to be well under a minute."

"Good thing we have a living legend to plan our op then, isn't it?" Gat said brightly. 

Cait sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Forgive my idiot brother, please. He's a fan."

Ori snorted. "Okay, fanboy, first rule: ops take planning, and planning takes time. We have no time, therefore no planning and no op. We're just going to have to improvise most of it." She grimaced. "The last time I improvised, I had both eyes...."

Cait sat back. "Let's say we go for it. What do you two tech boys need?"

"We won't have time to get the data physically transferred from one place to the other," Renn said. "We'll need a direct uplink from the Jedi archives to the transmitter. Which means we'll need to get someone in to access the archives in the Temple." He looked over at Yenaia. "Do you have access?"

"I... think so," she said. "I should at least be able to get into the system. I don't know if I have access to all the files."

"We could send the droids in with her," Liana said. "With system access and a computer spike, T5 should be able to get through any other security, correct?" 

Renn nodded. "That should work, yeah."

Kara brightened. "And once they have the system spiked, T5 can relay everything he finds to you over the Jedi's own system. It's gotta have the broadcast capacity for that, right?"

Renn looked at her, agape.

"What?" she asked. "I pay attention when you speak technobabble, spacer."

He chuckled and put an arm around her. She grinned at him.

"So... that means Ori, Renn, and Gat need to go to the transmitter, and Yenaia, and the droids need to go to the Temple," Meena said. "What about the rest of us?"

"I'm going to the temple," Kara said flatly. Not even Renn argued with her.

Liana looked at Ori. "I should go with you to the transmitter. If the security response is as quick as you predict, you will need the extra firepower."

Ori nodded. "And one hell of a fast getaway. How many people can we fit in the pocket bomber?"

Liana shook her head. "Not enough. Besides, it would stand out too much."

"Good point. We'll secure alternate transport. The rest of you should head for the Jedi Temple."

Kara stood again and opened her mouth but Ori cut off her objection. "Kara, I respect your wishes, but the fact is we don't know what you're walking into. Cait can handle herself just fine, and don't underestimate Meena. They can guard the droids if nothing else, but they go. Deal with it."

Kara sat back down and closed her mouth. 

Liana didn't buy her compliance for a moment, but now was not the time. "We only have about a day, if Yenaia is correct about the possibility of Rhade finding us. I suggest we make whatever preparations we need, while we can."  



	6. Glimmers

The meeting broke up and Renn rose when Kara did, grabbing her hand. "Kara? Can we talk about something?"

"What's wrong?" she asked, concerned. Renn searched her face for moment. He felt uncertain, worried. He was obviously trying to figure out how to say something difficult. She recognized that look, and that feeling.

To her surprise, though, he pulled her into an embrace and kissed her gently. Then he drew away a little, resting his forehead against hers. 

"Listen, about what I asked you before-" he began, his voice quiet.

She placed a finger on his lips, halting his speech with a simple, "Yes."

"W- what?"

"Yes." She caressed his cheek with one hand. His stunned expression was adorable.

"What do you mean, 'yes'?"

"I mean, yes," she said, as if it explained everything.

He stared intently into her eyes. "Wait... my way or your way?"

"Yes!" she said with a nod, smiling broadly at him.

From nearby, Meena let out a squeal of delight and suddenly flung her arms around them both. "I'm so happy for you!" Renn jumped a little. They had both forgotten they still had an audience.

Everyone else was confused by Meena's sudden outburst. Meena let go of them, and grinned around the room. "Rennie asked Kara to marry him, and she just said yes!" 

"Meena!" Renn protested. Kara could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks. She hadn't realized he told anyone else about his proposal. Of course, Meena had found out. She had a way of finding things out.

"What?!" Meena beamed at him. "Was it a secret?" 

Renn exchanged a look with Kara. "No," he said. "It's not now...."

Abruptly, Ori had a hand on both of their shoulders and swept them up in a massive hug. "Congratulations! Welcome to the family, Kara!" 

***

Meena found Cait alone in the dormitory after dinner, cleaning and inspecting her blasters. "Want some company?" she asked from the doorway.

"Sure, glad of it. That little murderbot's got an impressive blaster collection, but he doesn't care for them worth a damn. You wouldn't believe the amount of oxide I've cleaned out of this one. Disgraceful...."

Meena giggled and came over to sit next to Cait, sneaking a quick kiss as she did. "I should have you show me how to do that, too, so I can help."

"When we have more time I will, but not now. No offense, but if it's not done right, the weapon can jam when firing, or worse. I don't want to be in a firefight tomorrow and have my own pistol blow my hand off." Cait sighed and set down her weapon and the cleaning tool. "I've never gone into battle without my armor. I feel... naked. And not in a fun way."

"You saved me without it," Meena said quietly, laying a hand over hers. 

"Yeah, but that was reacting. This is a planned assault. It's not really the same thing." Cait leaned her head against Meena's. "Sorry, I'm just whining."

"You're more than your armor, Cait," Meena said, squeezing her hand. _I didn't fall in love with your armor!_ she thought furiously. 

Wait, what?

"I know. It's just... weird. That's all. Just saying."

Meena leaned in for another kiss. "You know, there's something I've been meaning to ask you about. You called me something before on Estaria, but I didn't recognize the words. And then Ori said the same thing to you when she came aboard. What does it mean?"

"Oh? Uh... do you remember what the words were?" Cait looked away, but she was blushing furiously.

"I think it was... _kar'taylir darasuum,"_ Meena said. 

"Oh," Cait said. "That. Um, it doesn't really translate into Basic."

"I hope it's good thing, at least?" Meena tried to get Cait to look at her.

"Um, yes! Very good," Cait assured her.

The door chime sounded and Cait all but bounded for it. The door slid open to reveal Kara. "Hello, Cait, do you have a minute?"

"Sure! Whatever you need, let's go." Cait all but fled the room.

"I still want to know!" Meena called after her as the door slid shut.

***

Kara led Cait back to the other dormitory. "I've never seen you in clothes not made of beskar iron. It's a good look for you." She smiled.

Cait shrugged. "Not really, but I'm making the best of it." She fingered the green blouse she was wearing. "This was Meena's handiwork. As was this." She fingered a lock of her dull black hair.

Kara nodded. She had fond — and not-so-fond — memories of clothes shopping with Meena. "I know the feeling. She dyed my hair once, too." She shuddered. "Hot pink. And the less said about the dressing room incident on the swimsuit excursion, the better."

Cait gave Kara a surprised look. "Should I be jealous?"

"No. Most definitely no," Kara said with a grin. "Anyway, the reason I wanted to talk to you was—" she reached under the bed and produced the helmet of her battle armor, "—this."

"Selene's armor?"

"Now, my armor," Kara said. "You called this a link to my past, but honestly... it isn't. Not the past I remember anyway. I never knew my grandmother, not when she was still alive."

Cait nodded, but said nothing.

Kara continued. "But you also said that it was a link to your past. This is Clan Rook armor, right?"

"Yes, it- Kara, no!"

"Does it violate a law or something? Isn't the warrior's first armor bestowed by their parents after they earn it?"

"You're oversimplifying...."

"Maybe," Kara admitted. "But am I wrong?"

Cait sighed. "No. No, you're not."

"Your armor was destroyed, right?" Kara asked. "It would honor me, and Selene, if you wore this."

***

Renn tunneled his way through a dozen different data networks as Gat and Ori poured over a hologram of the area around the transmission tower. 

"I don't know," Gat was saying, "this holofeed gets distributed through all of Republic space and beyond, but that transmitter just doesn't look like it has the juice."

"Is it sent through an orbital relay?" Ori asked.

"Maybe, but that doesn't feel right either. Hey, Falani? Can you shoot me the data you pulled on the transmitter frequency?"

Renn rolled his eyes. "Like I'm not trying to do twenty other things," he muttered. He opened another window on one of his displays and pulled up the transmitter data, then bounced it over to the terminal Gat was working at.

"Ha!" Gat said a moment later. "I thought not! Check this out." He pulled up the holofeed in question. It was showing some inconsequential debate in the Senate at the moment. "Now, let's take a look at the feed signal itself...." A few commands on his datapad and the images were replaced by scrolling data. Gat highlighted the feed's transmission frequency. "See? It's different. It _is_ a relay!"

"That's how the holonet works," Renn said. "It's just a big series of hyperspace relays."

"Except," Gat corrected him, "this is a _terrestrial_ broadcast, not off the 'net. By all rights, it _should_ be the same frequency as the tower we're looking into, but it isn't. It has to be using a terrestrial relay."

"Actually, that makes sense," Ori said. "A transmitter big enough to punch through the local noise of Coruscant wouldn't work in the Government district. The power drain alone would be enormous, not to mention the output would fry any speeder that got too close to it."

"So the one we're looking at is just a small source transmitter, going through a relay elsewhere on-planet," Renn said in summation. "Let's see if we can find that relay...."

Renn found the signal Gat was watching on his own station and dug out its precise transmission frequency. Then he triangulated the signal through a few satellites he — ahem — borrowed.

"Got it. Looks like the holofeed's origin point is... here." A satellite image of the area displayed a landscape of industrial piles and factories stretching to the horizon in all directions, and, in the center, a tall building surmounted by an even more immense communications dish. "It's a multi-phasic broadbeam relay. My guess is the Republic rents bandwidth on it to get all their non-sensitive data out, like the signal we plan to hijack."

Ori studied the image. "Good... much further away from anything the security forces will care about. Means their response time will be a lot longer."

"Yeah," Gat said, "and all that industrial activity gives us an almost automatic cover. All that factory traffic? We'll blend right in."

Ori turned to him with an impressed grin. 

"What? I studied some of your exploits...."

"Fanboy," Renn jibed. Gat actually blushed. 

Ori put a hand on Renn's shoulder. "Get us all you can on this place."

He nodded. "Brentaal IV all over again?" 

"If we're lucky, kiddo. If we're lucky."

***

Meena opened the door to what had been Aeron's tiny room, but she pulled up short in the doorway. Yenaia was sitting quietly, eyes closed, on the bed. 

"Oh, I'm sorry," Meena said quickly. "I didn't realize you were in here."

Yenaia looked up at her. "Your Captain said I could use this space." She glanced down at the clothing strewn near the small locker at the foot of the bed. "Was this Aeron's?"

Meena nodded. "Yeah. He used to share a room with Rennie until Rennie and Kara got together, and then, well...." She looked down at the pile of Aeron's clothes. "I didn't mean to intrude. I just remembered I never cleaned up after I went digging through his stuff, and I felt bad." She knelt in front of the locker and started folding the clothes back into it neatly. 

"Were you and he... close?" Yenaia asked.

"Kind of. I mean, Liana and Rennie and Kara knew him longer than I did. He was part of their crew since he left the Jedi. I only met him a few months ago. And I guess he wasn't even himself for part of that. We talked a lot, though. And he saved my life." Meena's hands fell still. "Did you know him? I mean, since you're both Jedi...?"

Yenaia nodded. "We were both trained around the same time, at the Solara Academy."

"Were you friends?" 

"No, we weren't," Yenaia admitted, with a small shake of her head. "The Aeron I knew at Solara was...." She hesitated, as if uncertain how to describe him. "We didn't get along. At all. Although, I always did feel a little sorry for him, to be honest." 

"What do you mean?" Meena asked.

"Aeron was always trying too hard to be something he was unsuited for," Yenaia said. "He might have made an excellent researcher or archivist, but he was so insistent that he would become a Jedi Knight. His skills should have been more advanced than they were for his age. He struggled even with basic things. And Master Kell was very harsh with him." 

"Oh."

"The one and only time I ever tried to help him with something, he shoved me away and told me to mind my own business. I never tried again. Perhaps that was petty of me, but he was too arrogant and proud to accept help from anyone." She shook her head, sadly. "Aeron would have done anything for a scrap of praise from Master Kell."

"That doesn't really sound much like the Aeron I knew. I mean, he and Rennie were always bickering and teasing each other, but I didn't think he was like that."

Yenaia sighed. "I've only heard small pieces of the story of how Aeron came to be here, and what happened. I wonder if, even then, his mind was fractured." 

Meena looked back down at the clothes in the foot locker. "No one else believes me, and they probably think I'm crazy, but I _know_ he's still in there. My friend, whoever he really was, is still there. They just think Aeron betrayed them, but it wasn't him! It was... Rhade. And they're going to kill him because of that, without giving him a chance."

Yenaia considered her words a moment. "I admit, I was working quickly, so I didn't get a very good look, but there _was_ something else there. There were... fragments of another psyche in Rhade's mind."

"Do you think it's Aeron?" Meena bit her lower lip. "Can we save him?!"

"I don't want to get your hopes up," Yenaia said softly. Meena looked down. That was just another way of saying 'no'.

But then Yenaia leaned over and put a hand on her shoulder. "I've never done anything so extensive before within another's mind." She met Meena's eyes. "I believe it _can_ be done. However... it will be a long, arduous process. His mind will need to be pieced back together. If he fights me, if he resists my help, there may be nothing I can do. And he might still not be the same man you knew when it's done."

"You... would be willing to try?" Meena felt a surge of hope, despite herself.

"If we have the chance, yes. But we might not even have an opportunity."

Meena closed the locker and stood. "If we can, I want to try. I want to save Aeron." 

Yenaia rose with her. "Rhade tried to kill you, yes?"

Meena nodded.

"And yet," Yenaia continued, "you wish to help Aeron, who may be inextricably tied to him?"

"Rhade was going to kill me. But Aeron stopped him. He saved me, I know he did. He's my friend. I won't give up on him."

"Then what you ask is of the light. I will do all I can to help."

***

Ori had left the cockpit to Renn and Gat and was heading for the medbay to get some sleep when she ran into Cait in the hallway. The Mandalorian had her hands full of what looked like golden armor pieces. Either that or B4 had some fancier droid plating that they'd been hiding....

"Oh! Ori!" Cait said, startled. She dropped a few bits of her load and Ori stooped to pick them up. 

"What's all this?" she asked, once the dropped bits were secured. She turned and followed Cait into the dormitory room that Cait, Meena, and Liana shared. She set the bits she'd collected down on the bunk next to where Cait deposited her own armfuls.

"I lost my armor when the Phoenix was destroyed. This set belonged to Kara's grandmother, and she gave it to me."

"Wow," Ori said, picking up one of the vambraces. "It looks like an impressive kit."

"It is. It's a long story, but this was reforged by her grandmother and my grandfather."

"Kara's famous grandmother.... I've heard some of the stories." Ori set the vambrace down. "Cait, can we talk for a moment?"

"Of course. Has Gat been pestering you?"

Ori laughed. "I've never had a crazed fan before, but no. It's not Gat, it's Meena."

Cait suddenly looked worried. "What about her?"

Ori took a deep, centering breath. "She isn't blood, but she's as close to my daughter as she can otherwise be."

"She's very important to you."

"She is. I just wanted you to know, I approve of you and her. I think your relationship is good for her." 

Cait bowed respectfully. "Thank you."

"That said," Ori continued, "I think I should warn you that Meena doesn't handle uncertainty well. Have you told her how you feel yet?"

Cait blushed.

"That's a 'no' then?"

The other woman sighed. "I keep trying to. We started out as just a fling, though. We became close, very close, but... I don't think she wants anything more."

"Did you ask her?"

"How would I do that? 'Hey, babe, I'm head over heels in love with you. Are you all right with that, or should I just keep things relaxed?'" 

"Minus the sarcasm, yeah, that's exactly how I'd do it. Just be honest with her, and yourself. That's all."

The door opened and Meena stepped in. "Ori! What's all this?"

"Nothing, kiddo. Just helping Cait carry in her new gear. Why don't you help her get everything settled and the pair of you get some sleep? Tomorrow's going to be a big day."

Meena stifled a yawn. "Good idea. Oh, Ori! I never got a chance to tell you, but Cait's been teaching me Mandalorian hand-to-hand combat!"

"Really?" Ori asked with a grin.

"A few lessons, yeah," Cait said from the bunk. "She's got a talent for it."

"We'll have to spar sometime then. Good night, ladies." Ori stepped out and closed the door behind her, then she sighed. She really hoped they'd get their issues figured out soon.

"Cripes, Ori-girl, when did you become _everybody's_ mother?" she asked herself, heading once more for the medbay and her bunk of choice.

***

Gat excused himself not long after Ori left, saying he needed to go take care of something. Renn heard Liana come in a little later, as he was still working on his research. Perfect. He wanted to talk to her about something. "Hey, Boss," he said, looking up as she sat next to him.

She smiled at him. "Are you all right, Renn?"

"Yeah, just doing some research on the transmitter." He turned in his chair to face her. "Liana, can I ask you something?"

"Of course," she said. 

"Well... I, um, haven't talked to Kara about this yet. It's just an idea." 

Her ears twitched. "Yes?"

"I... was thinking... before anything else can go wrong...." He couldn't voice the fear lurking the back of his mind. That he'd gotten Kara back, only to lose her again. That they might never have another chance if things went sideways. 

"I mean, we have everyone here already," he said, to try and cover that hesitation. "Everyone we care about, anyway. When else is that going to happen? Why don't we just get married tomorrow?"

Liana blinked at him. "Don't you need some kind of legal official?"

Renn laughed. "We're wanted fugitives. That's not exactly an option right now." He paused, then said, "Liana, I think we'd want you to marry us."

"Me?" She looked taken aback.

"A ship's captain has that authority, in some places," he said.

"A military ship's captain, Renn. Not a freighter pilot." Her voice was amused. "Besides, I don't know anything about wedding ceremonies, aside from the Trianii one." She paused. "And neither of you have tails."

Renn grinned at her. "We make our own rules, remember?"

She bared her teeth in a smile. "Do you remember every little thing I've ever said to you?"

"Probably."

She put her hand on his shoulder briefly and then rose. "Talk to Kara about it first. It's a decision for you to make together. If she agrees, then... yes. I will do this." 

Renn stood from his seat and impulsively hugged her before she could leave. Liana smiled and stroked his hair. "Everything will be fine," she said.

"I know," he said. "I'm just being paranoid." He released her.

She laughed. "Yes, you are. But I am used to it." She turned to go. "And don't stay up all night, either," she called back over her shoulder, before she opened the door.

Renn rolled his eyes, then returned to his research as his partner left the cockpit.

***

"So where did all this come from?" Meena asked, looking over the golden armor that was currently strewn across Cait's bunk.

Cait looked up at her, no small amount of panic in her eyes. "This was Kara's grandmother's. She just gave it to me...."

Meena blinked at her expression. "Is that a bad thing? Are you okay?"

"Um, mostly and no, no it's not a bad thing but.... This was Selene Bladedancer's _beskar_ , sorry, armor."

Meena smiled. "I know what _beskar_ means. It's the special iron that makes up the armor, or it refers to the armor itself."

Cait smiled back. "It's a huge honor. I mean... Selene is a legend among my people. But it also means I've only got a few hours to adjust this for me, and I can't reforge it, so I'm going to need a lot of help."

"Of course I'll help, however I can." Meena put a hand on her shoulder. "Just tell me what you need."

"We can't reshape the armor pieces themselves, so we have to make sure that they won't bind when attached to the bodysuit. Shift attach points if needed, and tailor the suit itself to fit my body like a glove. Do you know how to sew?" 

"I do, but... can I see that?" Cait nodded and Meena picked up the bodysuit. It was the same kind of stretchy material that a lot of dance costumes also used. It was lined with something else, but still pliable. She nodded firmly. "I can do it. It should be pretty simple to make adjustments."

Cait brightened. "Thank you! I had no idea where to start!" She hefted the helmet off the bed and something inside made a distinct tinkling sound. "Huh?"

"What was that?" Meena asked.

"Don't know...." Cait reached into the helmet and dug her finger under the padding. She withdrew a clear crystal about the size of Meena's thumb. "What's this?"

"I'm not sure," Meena said, peering at it. "Maybe it got mixed up with the armor when the ship got tossed around on Castell? It's pretty, though."

"It was wedged in there really good. Maybe it was some keepsake of Selene's?" Cait produced a length of cord. She tied it around a slim spot in the middle of the crystal and then around her own neck. "Just so we don't lose it. I'll show it to Kara tomorrow."

Meena nodded. "Let's get to work."

Over the next few hours, they sized the armor's bodysuit to fit Cait. The material was fairly easy to work, but the weave turned out to be devilishly strong stuff. Before long, Meena had it trimmed until it fit Cait like a second skin. 

The door opened while they were in middle of trying to fit the armor pieces to the bodysuit. Liana blinked at them from the doorway. "Is that Kara's armor?" she asked.

Meena nodded. "We're adjusting it to fit Cait before tomorrow," she said.

"Ah. I'm guessing you'll be at this for a while," the Captain mused.

"Probably," Cait said. "Sorry, do you want us to go somewhere else?"

Liana looked over the pile of armor pieces, then shook her head. "It will be easier for me to sleep elsewhere than for you to lug all that around, I think. It's fine." She crossed to her bunk and bent to retrieve a few things from the small footlocker there. Then she stood and went back toward the door. 

"Liana?" Cait called after her. "Thanks, for understanding."

"Of course," Liana said, with one of those sharp smiles that looked wicked, but really wasn't. "Just make sure you two actually get some sleep tonight."

Meena smiled back. "We will," she promised. The Captain left the room with her tail twitching. The door hissed shut behind her. 

Cait addressed the final pieces. Vambraces, shin guards, check. At last she took her weapons belt and fastened it about her waist, doing the lower clasps around each thigh, then she pulled on her helmet with an awed reverence. "Well?" she asked, the helmet's speakers making her voice sound fierce. "How do I look?"

"It needs something... be right back!" Meena dashed out of the room and returned a moment later with small spray can like the one Cait had used that night on the Phoenix. 

"Close your eyes. No cheating," she told Cait.

"All right, they're closed. Now what?"

Meena set to work, making small deliberate strokes with the sprayer. This really wasn't her area of expertise, but she'd painted enough sets before to have a fairly light touch with this. After a few minutes, she was done.

Meena took a step back and held up a mirror she'd borrowed. "Open them."

Cait's shocked intake of breath was audible over her helmet's sound system. Emblazoned over her heart was the crest of Clan Rook, a red serpent with bared fangs. 

"Meena, I... I don't know what to say." Cait took the helmet off and took the mirror from Meena's hands, setting it on the nearby bunk. "No, no. I do know." Meena saw tears in Cait's eyes. "To know someone forever. That's what it means. Literally at least."

Meena looked up at her. Her heart pounded in her chest. "And... figuratively?" she asked.

"It's what you call someone you want to spend your life with. Meena, I love you. I want to know you... forever."

Meena felt like she could barely breathe. "I love you, Cait," she whispered. She rose up on her toes to kiss Cait on the cheek, careful of the paint. 

Cait tried to kiss her back, but the angles needed to keep Meena from smudging the drying paint on Cait's breastplate were just not possible and they both broke down laughing.

"Let's get you back out of that armor," Meena said around giggles. 

"Now that," Cait said, grinning wickedly, "is a fantastic idea."

***

As the rest of the Wanderer's crew were dropping into sleep, Kara wrapped herself in a robe she didn't remember having — her other one having been discarded by her captors — and padded on bare feet to the cockpit in search of Renn.

She found him there, alone, just like she knew she would. He was poring over several data feeds, collecting information on their targets for the next day.

She bent over the back of his chair and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hey, spacer, how's it going?" she said against his ear.

"Hey yourself, farm girl," Renn said, leaning back into her embrace. "Just who I wanted to see."

"Oh?" She kissed his cheek. "What for?"

"What do you think about getting married tomorrow? I already talked to Liana about it, and she said she would marry us, if you want to."

"I think it's a wonderful idea," she said, nuzzling his neck. His hands fell away from his console. "You know, we really should keep clear heads for the mission tomorrow."

"Hmm? Yeah, you're probably right." He sounded very distracted.

"So, you should come to bed."

"I need to finish this research before we leave tomorrow." He sighed. "Besides, I don't think I could sleep anyway."

Kara stood, meeting Renn's eyes in the reflection of the cockpit's viewport, and let the robe fall off her shoulders to the floor. "What makes you think I mean sleeping?"

A sharp hiss of indrawn breath caught in his throat. "K- Kara!" 

She headed back to their bunk. "It's up to you, spacer boy," she tossed casually over her shoulder. 

As she left the cockpit, she smiled to herself. From behind her, she heard Renn swear, followed by the sound of him knocking something over in his haste to catch up to her.


	7. Oaths

Liana woke up early the next morning and fixed herself a cup of caf. She took her mug and went to sit in the empty cockpit, hoping for a little peace before the chaos of final preparations began. 

Later today, they would all face danger, but she felt calm. She knew the odds were against them. And yet, she had faith. In her friends, and her family.

She was a little surprised to find T5 plugged in to a console in the cockpit. "Is everything all right?" she asked him.

The astromech rotated his dome and gave her an "all clear" set of beeps. He went on to fire off a string of droid language so dense she had to look at a translator screen to get the jist of it. "I ran full diagnostics on all ship systems overnight. Everything is operating at peak efficiency. I also ran checks on the starfighter. It is, likewise, ready to go. Today is important. I want to help. But don't tell Kara. I have a reputation to protect." 

Liana set her caf down, then crouched beside him and patted his dome gently, smiling. "Thank you, T5. I appreciate it." She considered him for a moment, deep in thought. "I do have one more favor to ask of you. Do you still have Aeron's lightsaber, that I gave you on Castell?"

T5 beeped and turned back to his work, almost guiltily. "What lightsaber?" the screen read.

It was almost like having a small, angry mechanical child sometimes. "You know what I'm talking about, T5," she said, a little sternly. 

T5 let out what could only be called a sigh. Then he disconnected from the data socket and rotated his body to face Liana, still keeping his optics averted. A panel on his torso opened and the lightsaber hilt was extended by a utility arm. 

Liana took the hilt from him and laid a gentle hand on his dome again. "We all need to be prepared for today, and our new Jedi friend doesn't have a weapon," she said. "Thank you."

"I would be happy to loan her a blaster," he beeped hopefully. 

She shook her head at him. "This will be better for her, I think." She gave one more fond pat to his dome. "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll give it back when we're done." 

Assuming we all survive this, she thought, despite herself.

No, that train of thought would help no one. She let out a heavy sigh as she rose.

T5 beeped. It sounded insistent so Liana checked the translation. "We'll win. I know it. I kick too much ass to lose."

She laughed. "You're right, of course," she said. She picked up her forgotten mug from the console where she'd set it down and took a drink. 

Liana sat down in her station chair. She prayed silently as she sipped her caf. Hopefully the Goddess would walk with all of them today.

"Hey, Boss. I thought I'd find you in here." Her ears twitched at the sound of Renn's voice behind her. She hadn't heard him coming. 

"Good morning." Liana looked up at her partner with a warm smile. His hair was still damp from the shower. He must have just woken up.

He walked over to her chair, but he didn't sit in the co-pilot's seat as he usually did. "I, um, talked to Kara," he said.

She tilted her head at him. "What did she say?"

"We want to do it. Today." He fidgeted nervously. She smiled. Some things were universal when it came to getting married, it seemed.

"Because we're not going to be busy enough today?" she asked dryly, teasing him.

"Liana," he protested. He looked away. "You know why we want to do this now."

She set her now-empty mug down. Then she rose from her chair and hugged him. "I know. Don't say it." Her voice was firm. 

He hugged back, leaning his head against her shoulder. She rested her cheek against his hair. He didn't need to say anything. She knew the conflicted, complicated mix of emotions he must be feeling right now.

Liana spoke quietly. "Why don't we get something to eat, and make sure everyone else is awake and ready?"

"Yeah, okay."

She released her partner and picked up her empty mug, then steered him back toward the main hold.

***

Kara, the wyvern on her shoulder, stepped out of her and Renn's room, and promptly stumbled into Renn and Liana heading to the main hold from the cockpit. 

She had smelled the twin delicious odors of fresh caf and breakfast and dressed in a hurry, pinning her shower-damp hair up out of the way rather than drying it completely. Now she was glad she had. Everyone was making their way to the galley table and the small feast sitting upon it. Caf, eggs, bread, fruit and some manner of breakfast meat Kara didn't recognize, but really wanted to be introduced to.

"Come and get it," Ori told them all. "And don't worry, I didn't make any of it. Someone took the pan right out of my hands...."

"Ori," said Meena, "you're like a second mother to me, but you know full well that was a survival reflex." She and Renn traded a grin, as if this were an old joke.

The wyvern had enough of the formalities, it seemed, and swooped off Kara's shoulder for a small bowl set aside on the corner of the table.

As they settled down at the crowded table, it turned out Kara had overlooked someone. Yenaia came in, lured by the aroma as well, judging by the look on her face. Suddenly, her eyes went wide and she took two big steps to Cait's side. 

"Excuse me," Yenaia asked urgently, "where did you get that necklace you're wearing?" 

"Oh, right," Cait said. "Kara, I found this crystal with the armor you gave me." She lifted the thong over her head and passed it to her. "Did you mean to part with it, too?"

"I didn't know it was there," Kara admitted. "I was wondering where it got off to."

"What is it?" Meena asked.

But before Kara could say that she wasn't sure, Yenaia spoke up. "It's a kyber crystal. Not only that, it looks like a kyber from the Adegan system. "

"What does that mean?" Kara asked. "I inherited seven of these from my Grandmother, but I never knew what they were for, or where they came from."

"Kyber crystals form the core of a lightsaber. They're rare enough as is, but the crystals from Adega are especially rare, and powerful. Adegan crystals are almost... legendary."

Kara considered the crystal in her hand. In the Music, she heard a strong, clear note. Yes, it was right. She wasn't sure what use it would be to Cait, but it felt right that she should have it. Kara passed it back to her. "Keep it. I think it's supposed to go to you." Cait looked confused, but hung the crystal around her neck again.

But still the note in the Music keened for Kara's attention. She opened the pouch at her hip and took out the last two crystals. 

"Yenaia, you said these power lightsabers? What happened to yours?" she asked.

"I don't know. I haven't seen it since I was captured. It was probably destroyed." Yenaia's eyes fixed on the two crystals in Kara's palm. She started to reach toward them, then seemed to catch herself and withdrew her hand. "You said you had seven?" she asked instead. "What happened to the rest of them?"

Renn smirked. "She's been handing them out across the galaxy."

Kara glowered at him. "More or less. But I think...." She extended the final two crystals. "I'm not sure, but I think one of these is yours."

Yenaia reached toward them again. As her hand got close, one of the crystals flared to life with a brilliant green glow. She gently picked it up. "This is a great gift," she breathed, awe in her voice. "But I won't have the time or the materials to construct a new lightsaber today."

"In the meantime," Liana said, "you can use this one." She held out a familiar-looking lightsaber hilt to the young Jedi. "I don't want you to go unarmed today."

Yenaia took the hilt and examined it. "Thank you."

"Is that Aeron's?" Renn asked, eyeing it, too.

Liana nodded. "T5 was still holding on to it."

"If I'd known that, I would have taken it apart," Renn muttered.

"I don't think T5 would let you," Liana said with a smile. "He's gotten attached to it."

Yenaia looked in wonder at the offered weapon and the crystal in her hand. "T5?" she asked. "Your astromech?"

Kara nodded. "He's over there in the corner."

Yenaia went over to the droid and knelt. "Thank you for the loan of the lightsaber. I will return it to you as soon as I can."

T5 uttered a startled beep of thanks.

As everyone was finishing up breakfast, Liana looked over at Renn and Kara. "So, when did you two want to get married today?" she asked, a wide, toothy smile on her face.

Meena dropped her utensils and fumbled to keep them on the table, almost knocking over her drink in the process. "Today?" she demanded, her eyes wide. "What?!"

"We just thought," Kara began, "well, everyone we'd invite is here right now."

Renn put an arm around her shoulders. "There's not really any reason to wait. Just in case...."

"Shush," Kara said softly. "We aren't going to consider that. It might happen, but we could all get hit by a meteorite tomorrow, too." 

"There's a cheerful thought," Renn muttered.

Meena spoke up again. "But, today?! You won't have anything fancy, or time to plan... or...."

Cait caught Meena's eye. "I can understand it. After all, there is only Now." 

Kara could almost hear the capital 'N'. It apparently meant something to Meena, who looked down, her protests derailed.

Ori stood and smiled. "I think it's a fine idea!"

"So to answer your question, Liana," Kara said, glancing at Renn for input. "After breakfast?"

Renn squeezed her shoulder. "Works for me."

"I wanted to help you pick out a wedding dress and plan everything, later." Meena sighed and took Cait's hand. "But I get it. Besides... it's not my day, it's yours, right?"

Kara put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Don't worry, we're getting married the galactic way today. The Derra IV way comes later. Which reminds me... I think I need my closest female friend to stand with me, right?"

"Oh, well played," Cait muttered.

***

In the end, Meena stood with Kara, and Gat with Renn, right there in the main hold of the Wanderer. Cait and Ori also stood as witnesses. Yenaia sat off to the side a little. Liana thought the young Jedi still felt like a bit of an outsider here, but Kara had asked her to stay, so she did. The droids also stood nearby as well, no doubt with orders to record the proceedings.

The wyvern initially settled onto Kara's shoulder, but after a moment's confusion, he took wing again and landed on the back of the acceleration couch, between Yenaia and T5, thus completing the semicircle of witnesses.

Liana was not entirely sure how to proceed. Her only experience with non-Trianii weddings was what she'd seen in holo-dramas, and those were, like the rest of the productions, wildly exaggerated. She thought she might use part of the Trianii ceremony. Some things were universal, after all. 

We make our own rules, she had told Renn years ago. So she took a deep breath, and she improvised.

"Among my people," she began, "a marriage is both a testimony and an oath. A testimony from those who love you, and an oath of fidelity, honor, and love that you give to your chosen partner before the gods. I can't imagine it's much different across the galaxy. So I will offer my own testimony."

She looked between the two of them. They kept stealing nervous glances at each other. 

"It has been my great pleasure to have both of you in my life, as part of my family. To see you grow, both separately and together." She smiled a little. "Although, I admit would never have expected we would be here today, from the way you two used to argue with one another. All the time."

Someone snickered; Liana thought it was Ori. Kara blushed. Renn just grinned sheepishly at her. They truly had come a long way from when Kara had first stumbled into their lives.

"Since then," Liana continued, "I have watched you two find in each other understanding, friendship, and, finally, love." She reached out and took each of their hands, and brought them together, clasped beneath hers. Beneath her hand, Liana felt Kara squeeze Renn's fingers. "You have willingly put yourselves in harm's way for one another. You have both made sacrifices, each putting the other above yourself. And that is the truest form of love and faith that I know."

She returned to the Trianii ceremony for inspiration and looked around the room. "Does anyone else wish to offer testimony?" Her eyes flicked to Ori first, but Renn's mother shook her head gently. No one else spoke up, although Meena looked like she wanted to. The girl's eyes were brimming with tears already. But finally, she shook her head, too.

"Then face each other," Liana said, taking her hand from atop Renn's and Kara's. She nodded to Kara first. "Speak the words that are in your heart."

Kara cleared her throat, shining tears in her eyes as she gazed up into Renn's face. It took her a very long time, but when she finally spoke, her voice was clear, from the heart, and filled with love. "You crossed the galaxy for me. Together, we've faced Sith fleets, unspeakable evils, gangsters, fire, death and even... eventually... understanding." She smiled weakly. Renn smiled back at her.

"But through it all, no matter how many times the galaxy changed around us, no matter how many times you think you've reinvented yourself, one thing has always been constant. The man at the center of who you are has not changed." Now the tears fell, not in sadness but in joy. 

"That man is better, and more kind, and more beautiful than anyone else I have ever, or will ever, know. And I want him — the him you always are, and whatever other hims you need to be in the future — to be with me forever."

She finished and lowered her head, almost deflated.

There were tears in Renn's eyes, too, as Kara finished speaking. Liana had only seen him cry a handful of times in all the years she'd known him. But she was not surprised he did so now. 

"Hey," he said, in a very quiet voice, "look at me." 

Kara slowly lifted her eyes to his again. Liana could almost see comprehension pass between them. She didn't fully understand their Force bond, but she understood partnership. 

"I- I always kept my secrets close. I built walls to keep people out, and pushed them away." Renn's voice was a little shaky at first, but grew stronger as he went on. "I tried to do that with you, too. I didn't want to let you in. I had convinced myself that I was better off that way. Alone. 

"But you... you tore those walls down. You saw straight through to the core of me, everything I didn't want you to see, everything I hated about myself. And you still loved me. 

"You never gave up on me, even after every thoughtless, stupid thing I did to try and keep you at a distance. You showed me I could be more than I ever expected to be. You showed me I didn't have to be alone anymore. That it was okay to reach out, because I would always find your hand if I did." 

He squeezed Kara's hand. "I want to spend the rest of my life with your hand in mine, showing you the galaxy. I know I can face whatever happens, as long as you'll be right here with me."

Kara couldn't speak, but she clearly mouthed the words, "I love you."

Renn looked at Liana. She nodded to him.

"I love you, Kara," he whispered. He cupped Kara's cheek with his free hand, brushing away the tears that were freely falling now, and kissed her. Kara kissed him back, twining her arms around his neck. 

Liana threw both her hands in the air. "By the witness of your gathered family, and the oaths you have sworn in your hearts, I declare you married."

The hugs and back slaps and congratulations began. Even Yenaia and the droids were drawn into it, with B4 exclaiming that he had no software routines to support 'hugging' and T5 complaining uproariously. 

Gat leaned in to say in a low voice to Renn, "Hey, man, wedding present. I saw you didn't finish the research you were doing last night. I'll finish it for you. Go be with your wife."

"Thanks," Renn said, clasping Gat's hand. "I appreciate it."

Then Meena threw her arms around Renn first and then Kara, tears running down her face, too. "I'm so happy for you," she managed.

Kara hugged her back. "So, when are _you_ two getting married?" she asked with a grin.

Meena wiped at her eyes. "Um, actually...." Her voice trailed off, and she looked uncertainly at Cait, as if she wasn't sure how to answer. 

Cait shook her head. "This is _their_ day, Meena. We can save the good news till we get back."

"Right," Meena nodded. "You two should go spend some quality time together." She grinned. 

"Go make me some grandchildren!" Ori called, steering the pair of them toward the dormitories.

Liana snorted and shook her head at Renn's mother. "They probably don't have time for that particular distraction right now," she said, as soon as the newlyweds were out of earshot.

"Just planting seeds... or encouraging the planting of seeds anyway."

Even Liana gaped at that one.

***

"I... am really sorry about my mother," Renn muttered as the door shut behind them. 

Kara's cheeks were bright red even before they'd reached their bedroom. "Parents are _supposed_ to embarrass their children," she said, "but Ori raises it to an art form." 

"Tell me about it," Renn said with a laugh. "Between her and Liana, I'm amazed I haven't died of sheer embarrassment yet." He held a hand out to her. "Why the hell does this suddenly feel awkward? I mean, nothing's _really_ different between us, is it?"

"Because you're overthinking things again." She pulled him to her and kissed him soundly.

When they broke apart at last, Renn reached up and stroked her cheek. "My wife," he said, trying the word out. It still sounded strange to him.

"Yes, my husband?" she asked with a wicked giggle. "Damn, I totally forgot.... Well, maybe next time, when we get married _my_ way."

"Huh?" he asked, startled by the sudden shift in the conversation.

"I never had you branded...."

"What?!" He stared at her in shock.

Kara began giggling in earnest. "Oh, spacer boy, you are so cute sometimes...."

"You know," Renn said, "I'm starting to have second thoughts about this." He smirked and started to tickle her mercilessly.

Their laughter echoed down the hall to the main hold, where the rest of their friends and their family toasted their good health and prosperous future... before resuming preparations to secure it.

***

It was simultaneously forever and much too short a time before the door chime sounded. Renn reached over for the intercom switch by their bunk, and Liana's voice came over the small speaker. "Renn! Kara! It's almost time! Get dressed and get ready!" She sounded annoyed at something.

Renn sighed. He wished they could just stay here, but he knew better. 

They _were_ actually still dressed. Despite Ori's embarrassing admonition, they had just snuggled together in their bunk for a while. It was enough for right now, just to hold each other and enjoy the feeling of loving and being loved.

He stroked Kara's cheek. Her head rested against his shoulder. She wasn't asleep, he thought, but her eyes were closed. He could see her eyelids twitching. "Come on, farm girl," he said. "I know you heard that. Quit stalling." 

"No, I didn't. I'm asleep," she said, scrunching her eyes shut.

He chuckled and leaned in closer. "Oh, really? How are you talking to me then?" he asked.

"It's a mystery of the Music?" she asked with a smile.

He laughed at that. "As much as I want to, we can't hide from this. We both know that."

Kara sighed and opened her eyes. "I know." She leaned toward him and kissed him gently on the lips. "For luck?"

"I'm gonna need more luck than that." He kissed her again, long and lingering and sweet. 

"Now _you're_ stalling, spacer," she murmured when they broke apart. She pushed herself away and rolled to her feet. He got up as well.

They made their final preparations without speaking. They didn't need to, not now. Kara reached for her weapons belt, at the same time that Renn reached for his blaster, both sitting on the shelf by their bed. Their hands met briefly, lingered a moment in a gentle caress, then moved on. Kara fastened her weapon belt around her waist. Renn holstered his blaster, and then grabbed the tool bag he'd assembled.

Renn and Kara emerged from their room together, and the wyvern swooped up the hall to land on Kara's shoulder. The two of them seemed to share a word, and then the little bird hopped off and went to sullenly wait on his perch in their room.

At Renn's questioning look, Kara shrugged. "I asked him to guard the ship. I don't want to see him get hurt, and he'd be a little hard to explain walking around the Jedi Temple."

"Good idea," he said, squeezing her hand.

They found everyone else geared up and ready in the main hold, except Meena and Cait. Meena appeared a moment later with a wide grin, followed by her lover.

Cait had been busy, Renn saw. Kara had told him of her gift of the armor, but Cait had made it own overnight. The armor gleamed gold, but it was less bright now, as if a translucent black clear coat had been applied. It also now sported fierce black trim, in the pattern of Meena's lekku, Renn noted. There was a large red Clan Rook sigil emblazoned over Cait's heart.

Renn saw Kara grinning ear to ear, but it was Gat's reaction that was priceless. Cait's younger brother, in his matte black armor, literally sank to one knee and bowed his head.

Ori, toothpick clenched firmly in her teeth, let out an appreciative sound. "Very intimidating," she added.

Cait pulled on her helmet. Renn suspected it was to hide her blush.

"All right, we all know the plan?" Ori asked.

Yenaia spoke up. "Kara and I, along with the droids, Meena, and Cait get into the data archives in the Jedi Temple. Which reminds me...." Yenaia handed each of them one of Aeron's old robes. "These should fit everyone, even over Cait's armor and Meena's lekku, with the hoods up."

"Meanwhile," Gat took up the thread, "we approach the transmitter tower out in the industrial zone. It's not manned by organics, so all we should need to deal with are some security droids."

"Once we're in," Renn said, "we'll make for the data feed processing center, secure it, and begin optimizing the data packet for transmission. Mom and Liana stand guard while Gat and I work."

Kara went next. "T5 and B4 find the additional proof of what the Jedi are up to in their archives and send it to Renn's datapad via the holonet hardline."

Renn said, "Which we fold into the packet and broadcast." 

"Then, I get the four of us out of there," Liana said.

"And the six of us leave the temple as well," Yenaia finished. 

Ori nodded. "We're sending more people to the Temple because it's the hairier of our two objectives. Kara, I know we can trust you to keep your cool and make sure everyone makes it back out, right?"

Renn saw the spark of surprise in Kara turn briefly to anger, and then acceptance. In the end, she looked at the floor and nodded. "I'll do what it takes."

"Well then," Ori said, "I know at times like this, leaders say something hopeful and inspiring, but that just isn't _us,_ so... anybody who screws up explains it to _me_ afterwards, got it?"

Everyone laughed and responded that, yes, they got it, most emphatically. Then the meeting broke up as people began taking equipment down to the two vehicles that Ori had secured, a large civilian speeder and an unmarked lift van. 

Renn caught up to Yenaia at the base of the ramp. "Hey," he said under his breath, "I think Kara's still planning on challenging Kell."

The Jedi nodded. "Yes, I believe she is. But I also believe that she will not unless it is unavoidable."

"Then, you think it's going to happen regardless?"

She considered. "The Force tells me that a great upheaval is coming. A storm I cannot see past, not with my limited vision." She laid a hand on his shoulder. "Believe in your bond. Believe in her. Her heart is of the light."

He sighed. "I do. I'm just... I'm worried about what it might do to her."

"Then be strong for her. Because she will need it, as she does every day." Yenaia smiled encouragingly and went to board the speeder.

"Huh." He stared after the Jedi, thoughtful.

"Renn? What's wrong?" Kara asked, coming up behind him.

"You sure she's a Jedi? I mean, she's not arrogant and sanctimonious. I thought that came with the robes."

Kara eyed the Jedi robe she was pulling on. "Does it? I'll let you know." 

He laughed and leaned in for one more quick kiss. He very deliberately did not tell her to be careful, or wish her luck, or tell her to come back to him. He didn't want to tempt fate. Instead, all he said was, "I love you."

"I love you, too," she whispered.

From the deck of the lift van, Ori called out, "All right everyone, mount up! Let's get this show on the road."


	8. Confrontation

As their speeder neared the Temple, Yenaia leaned forward to tell Cait, at the controls, "There should be a landing bay toward the back of the Temple."

Cait nodded and banked the vehicle in the direction she indicated.

Normally, Yenaia would have offered to pilot the speeder herself, but she was too busy trying to mask her own presence from any other Jedi nearby as they got closer. She had no hope that they'd be so lucky as to catch the Masters away from the Temple a second time, and she wanted to avoid being detected as long as possible.

Unfortunately, she had not considered Kara's presence in the Force. The young woman burned so brightly, there was nothing Yenaia could do to hide her completely. Ah well, it was too late now for second thoughts.

Cait brought the speeder in for a landing in the hangar. "Just keep your hoods up and your heads down," Yenaia said, as they all climbed out. "There are not a lot of people here that I can sense, but there are some."

They all nodded. Yenaia led the way into the Temple.

At the first computer terminal they saw, T5 rolled over to access the map of the Temple, and downloaded a copy of it to his memory banks. Yenaia nodded approval. It was a wise precaution, just in case they got separated or lost. She took the opportunity to confirm for herself where the data archive was located.

They moved on when he was done, heading deeper into the Temple.

It was eerily quiet. Even the few times she had come here in the past with Master D'Yarn, the place had still been alive. Other Jedi, Padawan, younglings... now they saw no one but a few droids who let them pass without comment, thanks to the robes they wore.

It was... unsettling.

"Is it supposed to be so empty?" Meena whispered.

"No," Yenaia said. "It should be full of life, not...." Her voice trailed off. She had no words for what she felt at seeing the Jedi Order reduced to such... absence.

"Let's hurry," Kara said, low, from under her hood. "I feel way too exposed out here.... We're just begging for someone to find us."

Yenaia nodded. "This way," she said, walking a little more quickly toward the archives.

***

Kara's only experience with libraries had been aboard Venaar's flagship, what felt like a lifetime ago. That chamber had been immense, and filled floor to ceiling with rank upon rank of bookshelves.

Size was the only commonality between the Sith library and this one. Instead of shelves containing books, there were computer terminals and data banks stretching on into the distance. Marble floors and columns blended into a ceiling that arched high overhead. Even the computer banks were sheathed in decorative stone. Their footfalls bounced off the ornate surfaces, but aside from that, the vast room was eerily quiet. No one stirred, not even maintenance droids. The room felt and sounded empty, even in the Music.

"Is this the place?" Cait whispered. "It's quiet as a tomb in here."

"Yes," Yenaia said. She walked over toward one of the terminals. "We should be able to get in through one of these consoles." She bent over the computer to access the system. T5 joined her, and soon he was plugged into the terminal, searching the databanks.

Meena looked around warily. "I have a really bad feeling about this," she murmured.

"Hey, let's keep a little optimism here," Cait said.

Kara's head snapped around as a figure emerged from the shadows, but even as Rhade sent her friends slamming into the stone facades with one negligent Force wave, she wondered how she'd missed his usual chaotic scream in the Music.

The wave that flung her friends about like straw missed Kara entirely, giving her time to draw and light her blades.

"Bladedancer," Rhade sneered, lighting his own. It glowed a sickly, ill green to her pure sunfire gold. "Master Kell was entirely put out with you for spurning our hospitality."

Kara didn't waste words on the man who had been her friend. But she took the opportunity to spare a glance for her friends. Meena and Cait were laid out under one of the workstation desks, out cold or perhaps worse. Yenaia was draped across a low bench in a similar state. T5 and B4 were apparently stunned, in a heap by the corner.

Rhade chuckled, bringing her attention back to him. "Shall we begin," he asked in a bored voice, "or do you want to wax philosophic about Music like the untrained bumpkin you are?"

With a snarl, she charged him, blades high and ready.

The workstation chair struck her from the side, sending her sprawling before she even reached him.

Rhade laughed as she sprang quickly to her feet and threw off her disguise.

"What's the matter, Kara?" Rhade asked, as a marble bust from across the way flew at her as well.

She saw it coming and just barely dodged in time. Still, she'd Heard none of it. Not his presence, not the commands he sent to the inanimate objects about him... nothing.

"Are you starting to figure it out? Poor, deaf Kara," Rhade taunted.

Kara looked wildly about her. Perhaps Kell was here, his Silence smothering the Music somehow? But no, he would have attacked....

Rhade charged and she just barely parried his attack. She tried to counter but he melted away from her attack.

His laughter echoed around the marble hall, and Rhade charged again.

***

Renn, waiting in the back of the lift van, felt a small jolt as Liana brought the vehicle to a halt and it settled to the ground.

"We're here," she called back.

Ori hefted an ion grenade. "Ready?"

Renn and Gat both nodded. Since there were only droids guarding this transmitter, their plan was to hit them hard with ion grenades. That was why any delicate electronics of their own were inside the shielded case that Renn was carrying.

Ori flung open the rear door of the lift van. As expected, the droids standing guard had leveled weapons at their vehicle, but they had not approached. "Halt," one of them proclaimed. "Identify yourselves."

Ori and Gat flung their ion grenades in reply. The small bombs exploded in pulses of energy, and all the droids in the immediate area slumped, disabled.

They climbed out of the van, and Liana joined them from the front, her blaster drawn. She had additional grenades on her belt as well, just in case they needed them.

They approached the door to the facility. They didn't run into any other active droids outside; the rest must be guarding the interior. Thankfully, the transmitter and its core systems should be well-shielded enough that the ion pulses wouldn't shut them down, too. At least, Renn _hoped_ the specs were right about that.

"You're up, kid," Ori said as they reached the door. She turned her back to the door to cover their rear, while Gat knelt before the door to pick the lock.

"We're in," he said after a few minutes.

Just inside the door were four more droids. Liana threw an ion grenade into the center of them. It was a near-perfect shot. All but one went down, and Ori made quick work of the last one.

"The data feed processing center should be one floor up from here," Renn said, remembering the blueprints of the building he'd studied.

They took the stairs. Liana went up first. The sound of a small explosion echoed down to them before she called the all-clear.

On the second floor there was a small hallway, and three more slumped and deactivated droids. More stairs behind them presumably led up to the higher floors, and the top of the building where the transmitter dish was located.

Ori and Gat checked the doors on either side of the hall, but they were just maintenance and storage. The door at the end of the hall should be it.

It wasn't locked. Better yet, there weren't any more droids inside.

"It's a decent defensible position," Ori said. "No windows, only one way in from the hall. Could be worse."

Liana agreed with a short nod. "Get to work, you two," she added.

Renn set the shielded case down and opened it, pulling out his datapad and a couple of computer spikes. "This is way too easy," he muttered.

"Knock it off, man!" Gat yanked his helmet off and glared at Renn. "You said it, so it's officially your fault now if things go sideways."

"Yeah, yeah." Renn slotted a spike into the system. Then he rolled his eyes. "Good old Republic security," he said. "Universally terrible, no matter where we go." He started preparing the data packet for transmission, complete with the evidence that Gat had brought with him from the Phoenix's databanks.

Once that was done, all they would need was the data from Kara's team at the Temple.

***

"Quinn and my Master want you alive, you know," Rhade said as he pressed his blade against Kara's.

She gave ground and desperately sought some way clear.

"I don't see why, though," he drawled. "You're no threat. You're scarcely trained, and, frankly, not worth the effort."

"Shut up!" Kara cried and launched another assault that never got past his guard. Whenever she'd dueled Aeron in the past, it had been practice, but even when she'd seen him really fight, he hadn't been this good. How long had he been lying to her?

Rhade actually yawned as he repulsed her blades. "Maybe I should just kill you myself." He sent a furious storm of slashing blows toward her. She parried and spun, trying to stay just the smallest step ahead. He wasn't even breathing hard....

"Yes," Rhade continued, "I think that's what I'll do. It'll be nice to add you to my list. Slip you in right next to your parents...."

Her own breath coming only in gasps, Kara demanded "Wh- what do you mean, monster?"

Rhade's vicious smile was his only answer.

"No!" Kara shouted. No, he couldn't have.... It was Venaar! His troops had....

"I killed the beast pulling their wagon first. Just a quick slash to its throat. Your parents tried to run. It was so pathetic, really. If they'd split up, one might have survived. But I caught them...."

"No," Kara whispered, tears forming in her eyes, "you're lying...."

"I knocked your mother out, blow to the head," Rhade said casually. "Couldn't risk her having had training from Selene. Your father tried to fight. But he was even worse than you are. In the end, I slung her over my shoulder and dragged him back to the wagon. There was a chain there on the beast's harness. I bound them with it."

Kara's heart shattered. She'd never told another living soul any of this. Not Renn, not Liana, not even Aeron... there was no way he could know, unless....

"I beat them both for hours. But it soon became clear that they didn't know what I needed, so I made a grand pile of parcels from the wagon and the dry grasses around the road...."

"No," she whispered, "no, don't say it...."

Rhade smiled as he finished. "And while they were still screaming, I Iit the whole thing ablaze."

Kara felt the last of herself give way. It was the pain of finding their bodies, charred and still chained, all over again. The pain gave way to white hot searing anger, and for the first time in her life, Kara Tao Vanden took that furnace of power within her and bent it to her will.

Strength flooded her limbs and darkness blotted out her vision, taking the pain with it. Fires burned in her heart. She let the rage fill her like a cup trying to contain an ocean. Then, even the rage left her.

Kara's breathing slowed and her heart stilled. She stood in the calm at the eye of the storm of storms. The rain did not touch her, the thunder did not sound in her ears, and the flashing lightning, she held clasped in her two strong hands.

She was beyond the Music now, in the gap between the notes. Her world was calm and still, and from this place of peace she saw the stifling blackness radiating from Rhade. How he had muffled the Music so low about him, she could not say, but now she was as far beyond such small tricks as a star beyond a spark.

All this took the space between heartbeats. Rhade still stood, gloating and laughing above her, not realizing his danger....

And just like that, the eye of the storm moved away and the rage returned. This man had betrayed her, had befriended her with her parents' blood still on his hands.

He would pay for that.

Her blades snapped into new positions. One high, across her body, the other in her back hand, held reversed so it paralleled the arm which held it.

Rhade's expression slipped just a bit as Kara charged him. His green blade met her golden one, and she spun into the contact, swirling her backhanded blade across and up, contacting just the tip with the emitter of Rhade's blade.

His lightsaber came apart in a small explosion of fiery debris and bloody flesh. Rhade fell to his knees, crying out in agony as he clutched the bloody mess of slashed fingers and burned muscles that was his injured hand.

She stood over him with murder in her eyes and death in her heart.

She lowered the tip of one blade to the hollow of his throat. "Get up," she said in a cold, rumbling mockery of her own voice.

Rhade rose, the tip of Kara's lightsaber leaving a small, smoking spot on his neck.

Raising her blade, Kara locked her eyes on Rhade's, and prepared to strike.

"Stop!" Suddenly, Meena flung herself between them, her arms spread wide. "I won't let you do this!"

***

Renn's hands fell still, and his head shot up. A flood of searing anger and grief filled him. Kara... she was hurt, angry, in so much pain.

"You okay?" Gat asked, noticing Renn had stopped working.

Renn shook his head, not certain he could answer. He sure as hell couldn't explain what was happening.

Just as suddenly as those emotions came over him, they were gone.

He felt nothing from her now.... No, that wasn't entirely true. He could still feel Kara's presence, like a low buzz over their bond. She was still alive.

She was just... still, quiet, emotionless. Almost as if her mind had gone blank.

That scared him more than the rage. It reminded him of the Silence... that numbness, the emptiness. In her, especially... it felt completely wrong.

And then, with another sudden surge, her fury returned, darkness and pure hatred that made his head pound. He closed his eyes, overwhelmed for a moment.

No. He wouldn't believe it. Someone had to be trying to mess with her head, trying to manipulate her. Was it Kell? Had he found her already?

He could feel her giving in, surrendering to the darkness, and... he couldn't accept that. He refused.

The Kara he loved was full of life and light. She had played with kids on Nal Yeshu and glowed with happiness. She had danced with street musicians and been welcomed by the Trianii because she met them with joy. She loved him and made him feel alive in ways he'd never known were possible.

Damn it, he was _not_ going to let this happen. She was stronger than this. _They_ were stronger than this.

Not even sure what he was doing, Renn pushed back against the oppressive dark clouding his mind. He would not let go of the woman he loved. He would not let her fall, even if it meant he went over the edge with her.

***

Blind fury filled her.

Kara didn't even see or hear Meena. She just knew that the filth who'd slaughtered her parents stood there smiling at her, safe in the knowledge that she would never kill the man who was her friend, Aeron. No, he was perfectly safe....

Perhaps.

Perhaps on any other day, he would be right. But not here and not now. Now, everything that cared in her, the light and life that had sparked in her chest, was dimmed and drowned in a black sea of hate.

Her lightsaber, her righteous anger, her weapon slid forward and....

Shock. Shock and dismay. The feeling of a child's faith in the light being shattered. Rejection of what she had become and disbelief at her actions filled her, but it did not come from her.

"Renn," she breathed. She felt Renn in her heart, pulling her back to herself, and knew what she was doing was wrong.

And then a new feeling did rise in Kara. In the space between one heartbeat and the next she felt shame. Shame for having so dismissed who her parents had been, and what they had taught her.

She saw Meena, then, standing between her and Rhade. Heard her words and the Song she Sang of iron determination and unbreakable faith. Faith that her friend would not hurt her, and that her friends — both her friends — were not beyond saving.

Kara woodenly deactivated her blades. The hilts dropped to the floor with a clatter.

***

Meena let out a sigh of relief as Kara dropped her lightsabers.

Behind her, Rhade sneered, "Sentimental weakness...."

Meena didn't think; she just moved on instinct. Spinning, she caught him right in the burned spot on his throat with her elbow. As Rhade gasped for breath, she used the momentum to continue completely around and grab both his ears, slamming his chin into her rising knee. Rhade's teeth clacked together hard enough to break.

She dropped her knee and leapt upwards in a savage kick that caught him right in the groin with her shinbone. Then she let go and, as he fell, she kicked him once more in the point of his descending chin.

Rhade's head snapped up, pulling him completely around and dropping him like a sack of rocks to the floor. He let out no more than a wheeze as his back hit the marble floor and he passed out.

Cait was just getting to her feet as Rhade sank boneless onto his back. "There is nothing more I can teach you," she breathed.

"Yenaia!" Meena snapped. "You're up. Do what you can. T5, B4? Get that data to Renn!"

"Ye- yes, Miss Meena! Come on, T5." B4 shuffled over to the console where he and T5 began work anew.

Yenaia made her way over to them, looking a little shaky. She settled into a kneeling position beside Rhade's prone form, and placed her hand on his pale forehead.

The young Jedi looked up at Meena. "This will take time. And it shouldn't be disturbed, or I can't say what damage might be caused, to both of us."

Meena nodded gravely. That was a lot of trust that Yenaia was putting in them, in a bunch of people she'd just met. And all because Meena had asked it of her.

Yenaia closed her eyes, falling so still she seemed almost to be asleep, save for the slight rise and fall of her steady breathing.

Cait came to stand guard over them, blasters out and ready as she surveyed the area.

Meena approached Kara, who still stood as if rooted to the spot, looking stunned. "Kara? Are you okay?" she asked gently.

"He... He killed.... Oh, Meena!" Kara threw her arms around Meena's shoulders, crying. "He killed my parents. I thought it was Venaar, but it was... _him._ He knew things... and I, then I almost.... _oh..._ Meena, I'm sorry!" She sobbed.

Meena hugged her friend tightly. "I know," she whispered. "I'm sorry, too. But I couldn't let you do it."

"I'm sorry," Kara breathed. "Meena, I almost... Not just him, but you, too. You both pulled me back."

Before Meena could ask what she meant, Kara stiffened. In the same instant, B4 cried out in alarm from the computer station.

"Oh, my! Miss Meena, our signal has been cut off. We no longer have a direct link to Master Renn."

"What do you mean, cut off?" Cait demanded.

T5 warbled something. B4 translated. "The line to the main transmission dish has been cut off at the dish itself. T5 is attempting to get us a security camera image of the area."

The image resolved on the monitor. A man in white Jedi robes with a heavily scarred lower face stood next to the transmitter. He held a lit purple lightsaber blade loosely in his right fist.

"Kell," Kara hissed.

"He's calling you out," Cait said. "Don't go. We'll find another way."

Kara met Meena's gaze, and somehow Meena knew that no matter what they said or did, Kara was going to confront him.

"I don't have a choice," Kara said at last, pulling away from Meena. "T5, come with me. While I have Kell distracted, repair whatever he did to the dish."

The droid tooted and rolled over to Kara's side.

"Kara?" Meena asked, before she could go. "Please, be careful! I won't forgive you if you don't come to my wedding." Her cheeks flushed. That had sounded way better in her head before she'd just blurted it out.

Kara straightened from retrieving her lightsabers and smiled at her. She'd understood, even the unspoken part.

With the astromech at her side, Kara Tao Vanden strode forth to face her destiny.

***

Ori looked back over her shoulder. Her son was sitting still, not moving, his eyes unfocused. "Kiddo? What's wrong?"

Renn looked up at her. "It's- nothing, we're okay now," he said hastily. His voice sounded relieved. "Sorry." He shook his head, as if to clear it, then looked back down at his display. "I'm done with the prep. We should be getting the uplink from the Temple any minute now."

Gat, working on another console, swore. "Somebody knows we're here! They just cut the feed to the main dish!"

"Where and how?" Renn asked.

Gat's hands were flying over his datapad and his eyes flicked back and forth to the console monitor. "Looks like... Yeah, there's a remote kill switch we didn't account for." He pointed to the facility schematic. "Right here, under the main dish itself. It's part of the alignment system."

"Can you get it back online?" Ori asked.

"Not from here. Looks like a hardware switch they can trip from outside the facility, but not inside."

"Probably to prevent exactly what we are attempting," Liana mused.

"Hello, chaos, thanks for screwing up my plan," Ori said under her breath. "All right, kid, can you fix it?"

Gat nodded. "I think so. But we have to actually go up there and bust whatever's pulling out plugs."

"Right, head out. Liana, go and cover him. Renn and I've got things here."

Liana nodded and hooked a thumb at Gat, who grabbed his helmet and followed her out.

Ori took up guard station outside the room again. Renn's datapad beeped ominously at the premature cessation of the data feed. "Gat's right," she said. "You jinxed us."

"I thought you didn't believe in jinxes, Mom."

Ori shrugged. "Only between jobs, kiddo...."

***

Cait watched, nervously, as Yenaia worked on Aeron... Rhade... whatever.

Half of her just wanted to hold Meena tightly to her and make sure she was still all right. The other half wanted to grab her and shake her for taking leave of her senses. Jumping in front of Kara's blades like that... that had scared Cait out of twenty years life.

For her part, Meena seemed to be coming down off the adrenaline rush of nearly getting herself killed. She sank down into one of the few chairs that were still standing near the library's computer terminals. She looked like she was shaking. "I know, I know, that was really dumb," she said, looking down as she spoke.

"You can't see my face right now," Cait said through her helmet's speaker, "but I'm giving you the look."

Meena laughed, a nervous sound. "I just... I don't even know what I was thinking. I don't think I _was_ thinking. I just knew I had to stop her. Not just for him, but for her, too."

"Well, I hope you didn't love me for my hair color. It's all gray now."

"Well, considering that awful dye—" Meena's response was cut off by the sound of measured, intent footfalls. Someone was taking a leisurely stroll toward the archives.

At Cait's gesture, Meena leapt up and took a defensive position behind her. Cait trained both blasters on the doorway.

"I should have known," the newcomer said. "Rhade was always rather useless. More a blunt instrument than a surgical tool." It was a voice Cait recognized.

"Ashee Quinn," Cait called as the Jedi Master strode through the door. "Or should I still call you Baroness Ordo? Are you even aware of how many innocent lives you've taken? How much blood you've falsely spilled across my people's honor?"

"Oh, my," Quinn said, "is that you, Caitlyn of Clan Rook? Or, formerly of Clan Rook, I believe. Didn't your father disown you? Some desperate legal maneuver to try and clear the dishonor you heaped upon what remains of your clan? Futile as it was. He denounced you all the way to the headsman's block."

"Don't listen to her, Cait," Meena said. "She's just trying to mess with you."

"Shush, child. Grown-ups are speaking." Quinn sent a contained force wave at Meena and slammed her back into the column behind her. Meena crumpled to the floor.

Quinn snorted and wiped her hands as if they'd become dirty. "Useless tail-head...."

Cait roared and opened up with both blasters. Quinn's bright green lightsaber blade was instantly between them, returning the fire... but Cait didn't stand still, and the returned bolts only sizzled through empty air.

Relying on the drills she'd learned from early childhood, Cait rolled forward with each shot. She kept jinking left or right, but always forward. In this stuttering, leapfrog manner, she'd closed the distance to her attacker in moments.

The Jedi have the Force, the instructors had repeated over and over, and that is their strength, and their greatest weakness.

Dropping both her pistols, Cait covered the last few yards in a dive, pointing her right gauntlet at Quinn and triggering its electrified capture cable with her left hand as she hit the floor.

The cable lashed out like a serpent. Quinn caught it with her lightsaber and it wound around the blade instead of its wielder, the cable's charge protecting it from the blade. Quinn gave Cait a sneer of contempt.

Cait pressed the next button on the gauntlet, shifting the charge from electrical to ionic. Quinn's lightsaber flickered and died.

Ashee Quinn looked down at her weapon in stunned astonishment.

Cait retracted the now useless cable, rose, and cracked her knuckles. She was going to enjoy this.

***

Liana led the way up the stairs toward the top of the transmitter. About halfway up the building, the stairs inside ended, and they had to go outside, to a series of exposed ladders and scaffolding. She took a quick look around and saw no security droids in the immediate vicinity, then holstered her blaster and started climbing, Gat right behind her.

She found a narrow exposed walkway and a single droid at the top. It was a repair model — something like a floating metal orb with repair arms extended, not a combat droid like the guards had been. It was intent on whatever it was doing with the transmitter.

Liana didn't bother with the ion grenades up here; there was no sense in accidentally knocking out something that they needed functional for the transmission. Instead, she simply opened up with both blasters.

The droid dropped like a rock, falling over the side of the building and bouncing a couple of times off the walls. She walked the perimeter along the catwalk, checking that all was clear, as Gat made his way to the transmitter.

She took up a position at the top of the ladder, blasters ready. "Can you fix it?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Gat said, kneeling. "Just need a few minutes."

Liana watched for additional security droids approaching from below while he worked.

"Got it," Gat said at last. "Renn, we should be good to go now."

"Yeah," came Renn's voice over comms, "but we're still not getting a signal from the Temple. Something's gotta be wrong on their end."

Liana was barely listening to this exchange. Vehicles were approaching rapidly below.

She reached up to her comlink and cut off whatever Gat was about to say. "Ori, we have company," she warned. "Several vehicles are approaching the building."

Ori swore over the comlink. Behind her, Gat started swearing, too, peering down.

Liana hooked her tail around the railing behind her, a nervous gesture, as she scanned the skies around them. Nobody in their right mind would fly anywhere near the dish itself. There was too much electrical interference, and too great a chance of damaging the transmitter. So she wasn't worried about anyone entering via the facility's roof.

If the security forces decided to blow the transmitter in the interest of 'protecting' it, they'd stand off from a distance and do it with airborne vehicular weapons. And if they thought they had additional suspects up here.... "We need to get out of the open," she said.

Gat pointed to a mechanical access panel a dozen yards away. "Head over there. The heat from the circuits behind the panel will hide you from a thermal scan."

"And you?"

"I've got good cover here. I just hope Falani doesn't do something impulsive."

"Ori's with him."

"That's why it's not a certainty."

***

Kara stepped out of the lift onto the roof of the Jedi Temple.

Across twenty yards of open durocrete and stone stood the man who had destroyed her life, the man who had unleashed Rhade upon her family, the man who had orchestrated all of this. The ultimate puppetmaster, Valen Kell.

His back was to the setting sun. His gleaming white robe snapped in the wind and his violet lightsaber burned across the golden-orange sky. "Kara Tao Vanden!" he called, as loudly as his damaged voice could project. "In the name of the Republic, I arrest you! You will divest yourself of weapons and come with me!"

Kara crooked an eyebrow at him, silently asking who he thought he was kidding.

Kell sighed. "I had to try and resolve this peacefully." He began to stride toward her.

Kara, instead of closing with him, began a slow circuit of the rooftop. Kell changed his course to match hers, and they orbited one another, outside of saber range, keeping wary eyes on each other.

"I had the utmost respect for your grandmother, Selene," Kell said in a surprisingly off-hand manner.

Again, Kara raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"It's true," Kell said. He gestured to his own scarred chin and throat. "She did this to me, after all."

Kara finally spoke. "Did she? When was that?"

"During the Mandalorian Wars, just after Revan's desertion of the order. I was a newly minted Knight. Many of us were rushed through our Trials in those days. My former Master and I were dispatched to Derra IV to investigate an old legend of power hidden on the world."

"The Silence?"

Kell blinked. "A dramatic name for it, but yes. It consumed my Master, and was just starting on me when Selene attacked us. She lived up to the name you pretend to, Bladedancer."

Kara did not respond, merely continued her circuitous route.

"My Master died in a few moments. She had almost taken me as well when the Silence rushed out of my Master. Selene just barely managed to contain it within herself, burning it away to nothing."

Kell sneered. "It brought her back, did you know that? She had fallen to the dark side of the Force in the war, but consuming the Silence, as you call it, also consumed her own darkness. She tried to go back to Revan's forces, but she couldn't stomach the fighting anymore. Selene fled back to Derra IV to guard the gateway, and die in obscurity."

"It's a shame," Kara said, "that she didn't just finish you. All this would have ended."

Kell shrugged. "Perhaps. I've damned myself in saving the galaxy, that is certain."

"Saving it?! You've brought it to the very edge. Do you have any idea what happens if you _win?"_

Kell stopped. So did Kara.

"Of course I do," he said. "Order. No more wars, no more innocent blood shed by the strong in furtherance of their own power. No more chaos."

"Life under the Silence isn't order," Kara said. "It's the sterile blankness of nothing. It's stasis. Sleep without dreams. No choice, no freedom, no individuality.... That's not life, it's living death."

Kell sighed. "My dear, I believe we have exhausted the possibilities of this conversation." He raised his lightsaber to a classic ready stance.

Kara lit both ends of her lightsaber in staff configuration and gave it a quick spin, the blades thrumming ominously. "My thoughts exactly."


	9. Gray

"Are you guys coming back down here?" Renn asked over his comlink.

"No," Liana said. "They might send another droid up here to disable the transmitter, or they might try to destroy it. I don't think they know we're up here. We'll stay put just in case."

"Right." His eyes darted over to the doorway. Ori had come back inside the room now, and locked the door behind her. "Stay safe, Boss."

"You, too, Renn." Liana's comm clicked off.

"Can you disable the opening mechanism?" Ori asked.

Renn came over and popped the wall panel next to the door. "Yeah, should be simple." He looked at his mother. "That means we're stuck in here, too, though. There's no other way out of here."

She shrugged. "Make the constables cut us out. It'll buy us more time."

Renn drew his blaster and fired two precise shots into the wall panel. A plume of smoke rose from the damaged system.

"I coulda done it that way myself, kiddo." Ori rolled her eye.

"It's the quickest way. No sense wasting time on it." He went back to his sliced console. There was still no transmission from the Temple. Damn it, he wished he knew what was going on over there.

"I'm gonna cut power to the door, too," he said, tapping on his console again to bring up the building's systems. "It might slow them down a little more if they think that's the problem."

"Good idea," Ori said.  Renn could tell his mother was anxious, too. Not knowing what was happening at the Temple had to be driving her mad.

There was a loud sound outside the room. Both of them turned to look at the door. A small spark appeared at the seam. "Oh, hell," Renn muttered, turning back to his console. Come on, he willed silently.

***

Purple fire clashed with golden against a sky darkening to the color of blood.

Kara's skill had advanced greatly from when she fought Venaar. But for all that, she was still up against a man who had studied lightsaber combat from childhood, and her natural talent could only do so much to cover that gap.

Kell seemed to flow like water around her strikes, while his own found their way past her defenses with alarming ease.

Splitting her blade, she parried one high thrust and tried to slash at Kell's exposed midsection with her other blade, only to discover he'd leapt upward and used their crossed blades as a pivot point, landing behind her. His blade came free of hers and he slashed at her unprotected back. Kara rolled forward, evading the stroke, but just barely.

She rolled again, clear to the wall. Catching a foot against it, Kara shoved off with all her might in a stabbing lunge for her opponent, but Kell flickered in her vision and was gone.

She landed ten feet from where she'd begun and brought both blades up to guard, just as the Master's purple blade slashed through the air towards her. She barely managed to block the attack.

Kara tried to fall deep into the Music, to anticipate the next moves of this dance, but instead of a clear lead, she saw dozens of possibilities, none more certain than another. It was like trying to examine Rhade's shattered mind.

Quickly she closed down her inner senses, before they so distracted her that she lost the thread of the battle.

Just in time, too, as Kell seemed to congeal out of the air before her, his blade swinging upward from the hip in a vicious slash that would have cleaved her in twain had it connected.

For the first time since the initial pass, Kell spoke.

"I did you a disservice, Bladedancer," he said, panting. "You _are_ the equal of your grandmother in talent with the blade."

Kara didn't say anything in return. She just hoped she'd bought T5 enough time to repair what Kell had done to the transmitter.

She charged again, but this time, he dodged completely around. Kara felt fire along her leg as his blade licked the back of her calf. It was a small wound, but enough to send her toppling to the ground.

She landed on her back, with the tip of Kell's blade stinging the hollow of her throat.

***

Renn split his attention between watching the door, and watching the computer display. He felt a surge of panic. Nothing was changing. They weren't going to make it. Something had happened to Kara and the others. That was the only answer....

And then, suddenly, the console lit up, pulling his attention away from the line of fire slowly counting down their dwindling time.

"It's about kriffing time!" The transmission from the Temple finally came through again. His fingers flew over his console, folding the new data into the transmission packet he'd already prepared.

Ori had taken up a position to bottleneck the doorway once the constables got it open. "How we doin', kiddo?" she demanded as the sparks of the cutting torches worked their way down either side of the door.

"Almost there," he said. "Data's transferring now. As soon as it's done, we can start the transmission."

"We ain't exactly blessed with time here, Tae!" She raised her blasters to cover the door.

"I'm well aware." The progress from the transfer hung at near-completion for one excruciatingly long moment before it finally finished.

Renn inserted another spike in the system. A few more keystrokes, and he had bypassed whatever the transmitter was supposed to be broadcasting right now, replacing it with their data packet. All the evidence they had was now out there. Every terminal connected to the holonet would be getting a copy of everything they had. And there wasn't a kriffing thing _anyone_ could do about it.

A loud clunk came from the door. He looked over. The cutting torches had shut down. They were out of time.

If his mother started firing on law enforcement officers, innocent people were going to die. Right now, they were only guilty of trespassing, hijacking the signal, and property damage. If a firefight broke out, they would have blood on their hands. He didn't really want to kill a bunch of people who were just doing their jobs. That wasn't why they were doing this. It would make them just as bad as the corrupt Jedi they were trying to stop.

"We surrender," he said loudly, dropping his blaster to the ground.

Ori turned to him in dismay just as the door began to topple. She followed suit, dropping both her weapons and smacking her forehead with an open palm in chagrin. "I'm never gonna live this down."

***

Cait's right cross connected with Ashee Quinn's jaw. It made a very satisfying crack and the Jedi spun downward.

Which was when Quinn sprang her trap. Her trailing leg connected with the small of Cait's back and channeled all the momentum of both the intentional swing and the extra energy of her body weight into the motion.

Stars exploded behind Cait's eyes and she toppled to the ground.

Quinn was already on her feet, if winded, by the time Cait clambered back up to her own.

"Thank you," Quinn said, panting, "for the workout. I've never been in a true brawl like this...." She grinned. "It's educational."

Cait didn't waste words on her opponent, merely assumed a ready stance and waited.

"Buying time? Is that your plan?" Quinn asked. "I noticed the little healer girl in the corner before I entered. Trying to repair the mind of Rhade, is she? Well, not only can that not be done, it will destroy her in the attempt as well."

"You talk too much." Cait charged in low and aimed for the Jedi's knees. Quinn leapt away in one great spring, snapping her boot across Cait's temple as she did so. Helmet or not, it still rattled her something fierce.

Quinn landed just out of reach, dropping into an unusual stance, legs apart and torso held low, arms splayed wide. "If I were to even jostle her, if I break their link, both of their minds would be destroyed...." At her words, a shard of marble, debris from the earlier battle, rocketed from where it lay a dozen yards away, straight for Yenaia's head.

Without thinking, Cait lunged. She was still airborne when she intercepted the stone. It caught her, hard in the shoulder. The world whited out in pain and Cait screamed.

She landed hard, the floor knocking the wind from her lungs. She gasped for breath.

As Cait struggled to her feet, Quinn began to laugh.

"What's so amusing?" Cait wheezed.

"Why, that you would go to such lengths to protect the man who tried so hard to kill you and that tail-head you profess to love."

Cait's heart burned with starfire. "You do not speak of her. Not in those terms. Not at _all!"_ she cried. "Sure, I have no great sentiment for Rhade... Aeron... whoever he is. But she thinks he can be saved. She was willing to die for him. That's all I need to know."

"You're both fools," Quinn spat.

"And you're a traitor to your own cause who doesn't deserve to stain these halls with your presence!" Cait snapped back.

Quinn screamed in furious answer and made a sharp gesture. Over a dozen more shards of razor-edged marble flew towards Cait.

If Cait dodged, Yenaia would....

She spread her arms wide and braced herself for the end.

The rain of stone hit her and sliced through the fabric joints of her armor, dented and scuffed where it struck golden beskar, bruising the skin below, and worse. Two large rocks hit her visor dead on over her left eye in succession. The visor splintered and exploded in cutting shards of its own.

Cait's eye glared out through the skein of cracked and shattered ballistic glass, dozens of small cuts oozing blood around it.

"The Jedi of old fought for those who couldn't," Cait said, voice a low snarl. "Not for their own power, not for their own advancement, not even for their own honor. They fought to save the weak because doing so is of the light. You... you are of the darkness."

And suddenly, Cait heard the unmistakable chime of crystal. Kara's gift still hung about her neck, the leather thong untouched by Quinn's missiles or the fight with Rhade.

Now, the stone gave off a soothing amethyst light. It shone like a beacon and pulsed in time with Cait's own heartbeat.

Bathed in the glow, Ashee Quinn gave an animalistic howl of rage. "How dare you?!" she screamed. She gestured at Cait.

An invisible vise seized Cait's left ankle and hauled her from her feet and up into the air. With harsh cries and sharp gestures, Quinn whip-cracked Cait into first one stone column and then another.

Again, and again.

Cait's helmet flew from her. She tried to wrap her arms about her head, but that just left her midsection vulnerable. She felt first one rib go, then another, then with a sickening lurch, her ankle not only broke but _parted._

Quinn raised Cait's limp body to proper verticality before her and sneered at her. "Thus dies Clan Rook, and not soon enough, by the Force."

She dropped Cait upon her destroyed ankle. Cait fell to the floor in a silent scream of unbearable agony.

Then Quinn called her lightsaber back to her hand and raised the green blade high above Cait's exposed neck. Wordlessly the blade swung low....

...and was stopped by a meter-long shaft of blade the color of a summer sky.

Cait had never truly met the man, but somehow she knew who held that blade.

Aeron stood over her with calm certainty and righteous fire in his eyes.

"You!" Quinn said in disbelief. She withdrew two paces and readied her defense. "You are a worthless, contemptible idiot!"

Aeron raised his blade in formal salute. "I am a Jedi. I serve the Force, and walk the path it has laid before my feet."

Anger flooded her eyes and, serpent-quick, Quinn launched a slash at his exposed flank. Aeron snapped his blade around to parry it like he might swat a fly. He followed up the parry by pressing her back towards one of the marble balustrades, their blades locked high. Quinn snarled hatred into Aeron's passively calm face.

"I believe, Master Quinn, that your blade is the wrong color," Aeron said in perfect serenity. "Only Jedi carry blades of that hue." Quinn lunged away and charged him, swiping her blade for his midsection.

Aeron simply accepted her charge, bending backwards at the waist and spinning on a bending knee. Her blade passed less than a hair from his face. His caught her in the flank and cut her nearly in half.

Aeron finished his maneuver with his back to his fallen opponent.

"And you are no kriffing Jedi," he said, with the weight of a sentence handed down from the gods.

Through her haze of pain, Cait watched Aeron rise, look at what he had done, then close down the lightsaber and fling the hilt away in disgust.

As darkness enfolded her in its embrace, she felt Aeron tending to her wounds.

_Meena was right,_ she thought as the world went away.

***

Kara lay on her back, gazing up along Kell's lightsaber blade and into the Jedi Master's triumphant eyes.

"Yield!" he crowed. "Give yourself over to our cause and join the side of light!"

Drawing breath to make her final defiance, Kara let it out in a whuff of confusion as a hail of blaster bolts peppered the area around Valen Kell, several striking the man full in the back.

T5 stood by the repaired transmitter, every one of his many servo arms extended and each holding a different blaster pistol. The astromech let out a string of warbled beeps that Kara didn't need a translation program to get the jist of.

Kell whirled on the droid and charged, lightsaber high and ready to destroy him.

Kara couldn't rise on her hamstrung leg, couldn't get between them. She had no chance of blocking Kell's attack, and couldn't even use the Music to move an object to deflect the blow.... All she could do was trust the Song she heard and cast her blade straight and true. Her body Sang and the Music swelled.

The short bladed lightsaber struck Kell directly between his shoulder blades and emerged from his chest.

Kell's charge ceased three strides from T5. The droid stopped firing and rolled back another pace, unsure what had just happened.

Valen Kell, Grand Master of the Jedi Order, war hero and rebuilder of the Council, looked down at the double hands-breadth of sunfire that extended from his breast bone in curiosity and wonder. Then he fell to his knees and howled out his impotent rage and fury.

As the sun dropped beneath the horizon, the Jedi Master died.

And, as it had with Venaar, Silence erupted from his body, a cloud of inky blackness in the scarlet sky.

T5 rolled over to Kara and helped her into a kneeling position. She patted the droid's dome fondly. "Thank you, my friend. Will you do me one more favor?"

He beeped affirmative.

"If this doesn't work, if I become... something else... tell everyone I loved them? Please?"

Again, affirmative.

Kara smiled and turned her face upward, into the writhing cloud of death.

"Come to me!" she called to it.

It did not Sing, for that was not its nature, but she could feel its response. _No! You would destroy us! You are the light, anathema to us!_

Kara considered. The light? She was no light. The galaxy thought her a holy woman, but she was no saint.

She'd killed when she hadn't needed to. She'd beaten Tivosh to death on Nal Yeshu. She'd gladly waded into the darkness not an hour earlier in her fight with Rhade. She'd been ready to kill him, and Meena just for being in the wrong place. Her friend! And Kara'd nearly slaughtered her for defending the man who'd slain her parents.

_I_ was _the light_ , she Sang, _but now, I am dimmed. I make you this offer! Take me! Endure in me! Harm no others, and I will carry you all the rest of my days!_

And the Silence agreed.

It flowed hungrilly into her. It flooded her senses. Her vision darkened, her Song faltered....

She sat alone in an impossible emptiness, curled upon the flat, cold ground. No sky, no features, nothing but blackness as far as the eye could see. She called out, expecting an echo, but none came. Pressure upon her ears like she was deep underwater, the smothering darkness held her fast.

"Welcome," said a voice behind her. She turned to see a man in plain robes. "Well met, cousin."

"Kirennan?" she asked.

The man who had been Kirennan Venaar nodded. "I've been waiting for you."

"Where are we?" Kara asked.

He stepped over to her and helped her up. Kara had thought she would be unable to rise, but here her calf was whole and well.

"We are in the Silence. We are in the space between the notes of what you call the Music."

"Between?"

"Exactly," he laughed. "Do you remember what I said to you before I died?"

Kara didn't want to remember. She never liked to even think about that day.

As if he'd read her thoughts, Kirennan nodded. "Why do you think that is?"

"Because so much of that day was pain. Pain and loss. The Silence almost took Renn!"

"But you freed him. You freed the entire galaxy — no, the universe — that day."

"And nearly lost myself in the process!"

"Like you've lost yourself now?"

Kara fell silent. Yes... like now.

"So, what did I say to you?"

She sighed. "That you cannot shine brightly without casting an equally dark shadow."

"Exactly. Nor can you Sing without Silence. Music is a collection of notes, building atop one another. You can't have a note without silence on either side of it."

Kara considered. Music, wrapped in and around Silence. Light and dark, in balance.

At the corner of her vision, a brief flicker of light.

"Ah!" cried Kirennan. He clapped his hands in excitement. "Realization dawns!"

"The Silence isn't the end of the Music..." Kara said. "It's the other side of it. The pause between the notes that gives them shape." More cracks in the infinite. "Neither one nor the other. Both, in equal balance and measure."

"The darkness and the light?" Kirennan asked.

"Are the same thing!" Kara cried. She threw her arms around him as the final panes of darkness shattered and this reality faded into her own. "Thank you, cousin!"

"Thank you, Kara," he whispered on the first breeze of night.

Kara opened her eyes to find T5 looming over her with a spark projector extended like he was about to restart her heart.

"Ack! I'm all right, T5! I'm all right!"

He backed off, the spark fading as he tootled happily.

"Yes," she said with a small, wan little smile, "everything's all right, now."


	10. Resolutions

Yenaia Tran stood alone in the Council Chamber, near the top of the tallest tower of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

The ring of seats in the center had not changed. Mainly because there _was_ no longer a Council. There were barely any Jedi anymore.

After the deaths of Masters Kell and Quinn, the opposition standing against Yenaia's allies had all but vanished completely. Their transmission had been sent to the public holonet, and broadcast out to the entire galaxy.

The evidence had been clear as to _what_ had happened. But not _why._

Why had the Council done this? Why had her own Master been part of it, or let it happen? Had it truly started with noble intentions?

And, maybe most importantly, what remained of the Jedi, now that they had done this? Would anyone ever trust them again?

When she had recovered from the exhausting work of healing Aeron Rhade's mind, Yenaia came to the Council Chamber in search of those answers.

Here, days after the final battle, she'd found the bodies of the remaining three Council members. The trio of wizened Jedi Masters known only as the Three had showed no sign of physical damage, nor drugs nor poison; they had simply died where they sat, clustered close around each other, hands clasped. As inseparable in death as they had been in life. Yenaia could not help but think they had chosen the moment of their own deaths as carefully as they had done everything else.

They had also left a last confession, a message addressed to her on the computer terminal in the room. It fully detailed their role in these events. How the Three had enabled Kell's rise to power. How they had guided his hand so everything would play out as they willed.

And their goal had been exactly this. The destruction and rebirth of the Jedi Order. After years of seemingly endless wars and external conflict, after all that had happened with Revan and the Mandalorians, the Jedi Civil War and the war against the Lords of the Sith, many of the remaining Jedi had lost their way, or so the Three claimed. The Order needed to be purged, rebuilt, healed from the inside.

And the Three had named Yenaia Tran no less than Grand Master of the Jedi Order as their final act. She had, by default, inherited all of the Council's power and influence on the Republic government in a matter of moments.

She wanted none of it.

Her first act as Minister of Galactic Security, the position she'd inherited from Kell, had been to order the prisoners arrested at the transmitter to be turned over to the Jedi for "questioning".

Once Liana, Gat, Renn and Ori were safely back at the Temple, her second, and final, act had been to remove the Jedi completely from their new government positions. The Jedi would never be anything but advisors and peacekeepers now. As they were meant to be.

Her allies would have to stay here at the Temple under Jedi protection, at least while they were still technically wanted by the Republic. It would be good for them to have a respite anyway, a chance to recover from their own injuries. Hopefully it should only take a few weeks until their status as fugitives was reversed.

After their deaths, those whose minds Kell and Quinn had controlled suddenly collapsed, catatonic. That included Supreme Chancellor Brox and many of the most powerful Senators, as well as their Jedi attendants. None of them could be roused, like puppets with strings cut.

The analogy was more apt than any of them realized. The Shadows were lost inside their own minds without their Masters to control them.

The same thing had happened across the galaxy. No doctor could identify the cause of the epidemic of mysterious collapses. The true cause and extent of the problem became the subject of much speculation, then debate, then conspiracy theory, and finally derision.

The nervous Senator from Dantooine who had taken over as Supreme Chancellor in the interim had actually offered to _abdicate_ in favor of Yenaia, but she'd refused outright. The Senate was slowly recovering from their losses, as new Senators were appointed to replace those who had fallen victim to Kell's manipulations.

Yenaia had tried to heal one of the Jedi Shadows who'd been here on Coruscant. But, if he was an example of Quinn's handiwork, there was nothing she could do for any of them now; the man lay in a coma, his mind shattered and empty of anything resembling his original personality. It was nothing like what had been done to Aeron, where pieces of his personality had been preserved and melded together with the persona Kell had created in him. This had been more precise, more thorough. Irreversible.

The question now was, how was Yenaia to rebuild with so few Jedi left? In the wake of so many recent battles, their numbers had already been depleted even before Kell had taken them down this path. Now, the Jedi were almost completely gone.

Yenaia shook her head, pensive, staring out over the cityscape of Coruscant. It stretched out as far as her eye could see.

_Master, how am I to find and teach new students when I am barely trained myself? I'm not ready for this._

She desperately wished for someone older and wiser to advise her, if not to take over this mess in her stead. She was almost certain she would not be up to the task laid before her. And yet, there was no one else left willing to take up the burden.

A soft footstep behind her made Yenaia turn.

Aeron stood there, wearing the last of the clothing that had remained in his room aboard the Wanderer after the depredations of his wardrobe. Spacer's pants and shirt, with a dark jacket. He'd also trimmed his hair and shaved off his beard since their last talk. It reminded her of their younger days as students together at Solara. Even then he had already been damaged, although she had not known that at the time.

She and Aeron had never been friends as students, but the two of them had spent a great deal of time over the last few days deeply connected through the Force. She had not just healed his shattered mind, but she continued to work with him, helping him come to terms with his new reality. An intimacy and a connection had grown between them, though not to the level of the Force bond that Kara and Renn shared. She'd been very careful _not_ to allow that to happen between Aeron and herself. Such a bond would do him more harm than good when he was already so unsure of himself.

Which was why she was glad to find she'd been right. All the damage and healing done to Aeron's mind had severed his connection to Kara and Renn once and for all. Aeron was, at last, simply himself once more.

"I found this in my room," he said. He tried to keep the accusation out of his voice, but it was clear he knew who'd left his lightsaber there.

She smiled at him. "It is yours by right," she said. "You may need it."

Aeron sighed. "Yenaia, if I ever need this again, we will truly be beyond all hope. It's a reminder of who I was, and not just Rhade. I don't want it."

"Considering the crew you intend to travel with?" she asked. But she held out her hand to accept the hilt from him. She hooked it to her belt beside her own new lightsaber, crafted with the crystal Kara had given her. "Very well, then. I'll return it to T5 instead. I'm sure he'd be willing to loan it to you, if you _do_ ever need it."

Aeron grimaced. "If you think it's wise to give the little murderbot one more deadly implement, who am I to stop you?"

She laughed. "He's proven himself quite the hero, to hear Kara tell it." She laid a hand on his arm, hesitant. "I wish you would reconsider." She looked away toward the window again. Her hand fell back to her side. "I don't think I can do this alone."

He grinned. "The one thing the Force still tells me is that you won't be. Not for long."

"I hope you're right." She shook her head, then turned back to him. "We will need a new archivist...?" But she already knew what his answer would be.

"Not now, Yenaia. Please?" he asked. She could see the pain in his eyes. "I need to find myself first, in the Force, and in life. Later, maybe. But not now. Can you accept that and stop asking?"

"I'm sorry," Yenaia said, bowing her head. "Of course. I-"

Before she could say anything else, the comlink at the table in the center of the Council Chamber unexpectedly came to life with an incoming signal. Yenaia walked over to it. "A Trianii ship is asking for permission to land at the Temple...?" She looked at Aeron. "Is this another friend of yours?"

"I'm not actually sure," he said with a frown, and reached for his comlink. "Liana?"

***

Liana had gone down to the Temple's infirmary to see how everyone was doing. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting to find.

The infirmary had become an impromptu gathering place for her crew and their friends. Renn rarely left Kara's side since he'd arrived at the Temple, much to her apparent irritation at this particular moment. Meena and Gat had their hands full trying to keep Cait in her own bed, despite her injured ankle. Liana wasn't sure where Ori had gotten off to; she frequently snuck out of the Temple for who knew what purpose.

Liana sighed to herself. Of course, the two worst patients in their group had been the only ones badly hurt. Meena had come out of things with a few cuts and bruises, but nothing very serious. The rest of them had been more or less unhurt. But neither Kara nor Cait had stopped complaining, to Liana's knowledge, since they'd awakened in the infirmary.

Yenaia _had_ offered to try and heal their injuries. They'd both turned her down outright. Which had more to do with how worn out Yenaia herself looked, and how much she'd already done for them, protecting them and offering them refuge in the Temple. Her healing of Aeron's mind had taken a lot out of her. On top of that, things had not let up for her since the death of the Jedi Council, when she had unexpectedly been saddled with trying to repair the damage done by her predecessors. Liana did not envy the young Jedi the work she had ahead of her.

Her comlink sounded in her ear, and Liana walked back toward the door, hoping the extra distance would stifle the noise of the various conversations going on behind her. "Yes? What is it?"

"Liana?" It was Aeron. "Yenaia just got word that a Trianii ship is asking permission to land at the Temple's docking bay."

"What?" There was no reason why the Trianii would've sent anyone after them. They had technically left Ekibo as criminals, but they wouldn't pursue into Republic territory. "Why? Never mind, can you or Yenaia patch me through to the ship? I will find out what they want."

"Just a moment," he said, and her comlink went quiet for a few minutes.

It came to life again with a very familiar voice. "This is Trianii Ranger Patrol Ship 258, requesting permission to land."

_"Tihaar?!"_ she exclaimed, incredulous. "Why are you here?"

The room behind her went dead silent, even though they could only hear her side of the conversation.

"I got some papers... somewhere. I'll find 'em later. Diplomatic mission. They're all signed and in order this time, too."

"What are you talking about? What diplomatic mission?"

"It'll be easier to explain if I could, I don't know, land my ship?"

Liana rubbed her temples. "How is it I already have a headache? Fine, stand by." She cut the connection before he could reply, and told Aeron to ask Yenaia to authorize them to dock.

A minute or two later, B4 tottered into the infirmary. "Master Yenaia is greeting the Trianii representative. She asked if all of us would remain in the infirmary for the moment."

Liana nodded. She really had no idea what might have brought Tihaar halfway across the galaxy. Considering how they'd left Ekibo, she wasn't sure it was a good thing.

To her surprise, it was not Tihaar but Rukka who appeared in the doorway. "Aunt Liana!"

She stared. "What are _you_ doing here?!"

"I couldn't sit around doing nothing, so I...." He grinned sheepishly at her. "Well, I was going to just stow away, but Tihaar caught me and said I could come anyway."

"Of course he did." Liana growled. "But why? Why would you want to come here at all?"

"I knew you all were doing something dangerous, and I wanted to help." Her nephew shrugged. "I just felt like I needed to come. I can't explain it." He scanned the room, and caught sight of Kara in the infirmary bed. His eyes widened, a hint of that hero worship he still obviously held for her in his voice. "Are you hurt?"

"Yeah," Kara said. "Took a lightsaber to my calf. They've had me in and out of a kolto tank for a few days. Should heal fine."

"Ouch," he said in sympathy. Then he reached for the crystal he still wore on a length of leather around his neck. "I guess... part of why I wanted to come was this." He held it up.

While the crystal had been clear when Liana had given it to him, it now glowed with a soft blue light. "This just kind of happened a few days ago. I think maybe it had something to do with what you guys were doing."

"Huh," said Cait from the next infirmary bed. She dug out her own crystal, which still glowed purple. "Mine did that, too, during my fight with Quinn. What does it mean?"

"Well," Kara said with great uncertainty, "according to Yenaia, those are lightsaber crystals."

"Who's Yenaia?" Rukka asked.

"She is in charge of the Jedi now," Liana explained. "We should speak to her about your crystals."

The woman herself appeared then, escorting Tihaar. "Captain, he says his business is with you and your crew, so I thought I should bring him here." She looked around the room, at them all looking at her expectantly. "Is something-?" Yenaia caught sight of the glowing crystal in Cait's hand, and stopped. "Oh," she said. Her eyes flicked to Rukka's as well. "Well, I wasn't expecting this."

Rukka tilted his head at her. "What does it mean?"

"Those crystals form the core of a Jedi's lightsaber. They sometimes bond and react to their intended wielder in such a way...."

"Does that mean...?" Cait's eyes went wide. "But I don't _feel_ any different!"

Kara closed her eyes and seemed to drift off. Liana called it her "Listening" face. "Cait," she said at last, "there IS something different about you. Your Song has changed. It's subtle, but there. Rukka's, too, although his Song is much less subtle."

"Can someone _become_ Force-sensitive?" Meena asked.

"There is precedent of a sort," B4 said. Everyone turned to him and the room grew still. "According to the Archives that we accessed, a Jedi named Nomi Sunrider was born with mild sensitivity, not enough to use consciously or to train. After her husband was murdered, suddenly her talent awakened. She became one of the most notable Jedi of her time."

"You think that's what happened here?" Renn asked.

Kara shrugged. "Maybe. Both Rukka and Cait were born outside the Republic. They may have had a glimmer of sensitivity, but never used it. Then the recent events triggered it."

"Or it could be that the Force is choosing a new generation of Jedi," Yenaia said, "since there are so few of us left."

Renn rolled his eyes but didn't say anything else.

"If you lot are done being metaphysical," Tihaar said, "I have papers for you."

Liana sighed at him. She saw Yenaia take Rukka aside, speaking quietly to him. The boy was old enough to make his own decisions, of course, but she still worried about him.

Tihaar pulled a small sheaf of official-looking flimsies out of the pouch on his belt and presented them to Liana.

"What's all this?" she asked.

"The _yu'nar_ finally came to a decision. Since you so rudely shot me and left before hearing their verdict, they sent me to deliver it."

"You shot him?" Renn asked with a snicker.

"She did," Tihaar said. "It was very dramatic. It aches in rainy weather. I'll always have a scar..."

"All I did was stun you, you oversized cub." Liana growled at him and unfolded the papers. And then she let out a bark of laughter.

"What's wrong?" Meena asked.

"The _yu'nar_ of Ekibo has granted our petition," she said, eyes darting across the pages. "Unanimously, after the removal of Matriarch Vatari for treason." She stared at Tihaar. "What does that even mean now? Why come all this way?"

Tihaar shrugged. "Symbolic gesture, I guess. Your mother was insistent that I deliver it to you."

Liana nodded slowly, understanding dawning. It was more than a symbolic gesture. It was an invitation to return to Ekibo if they ever needed to. An offer of refuge and sanctuary for her family. A place for them to be safe. "I see," she whispered.

At the end of the long, and winding road that had led them through dangers none of them could have imagined, they had a home to return to. Maybe more than one.

Liana sighed. It felt right.

***

Aeron had retreated to a quiet meditation room at the news a Trianii representative was coming. He figured making himself scarce was a good idea, given what Rhade had done on Ekibo.

He sat with hands atop crossed legs in near total blackness. He couldn't hide from himself here.

Of course, he didn't KNOW who he was hiding from, now, did he?

Originally, he'd been Aeron. No family name, just Aeron. He'd been Padawan to a very different master than Valen Kell. His original teacher had been a gentle Ho-Din woman who had nurtured his desire for a quiet life of study and reflection.

Kell had seen him as a perfect trial for the conversion process, as he'd called it. He had taken Aeron from his first Master, leaving her dead on the floor.

The gentle boy he had been was shattered. His mind, his identity... all destroyed in the name of rebuilding his psyche. He had not taken to the process well, resulting in the split personalities of Aeron, the arrogant but generally well-meaning person who aspired to the title of Jedi Knight; and the monster, Rhade.

Out of some misguided, last-moment, well-meaning gesture, the two warring personas had been fused into Aeron Rhade, who had become Kell's Padawan.

Yenaia did her best, but even she could not undo all the damage, and the result was... who? Could he lay claim to any of the multiple people he had been? Was he some amalgam of all of them?

It surprised him who had spoken up on his behalf in the aftermath. Meena and Yenaia, he'd expected. Kara had, as well, after examining him carefully in the Music. Liana accepted Kara's word. Renn, of course, was still suspicious, as was Ori. Most surprising was that Cait had spoken in his defense. She had declared firmly and loudly that he had also saved her life. Her word had been enough to convince Gat.

But he, himself, was yet to be convinced. That was why he walked away from his lightsaber, from the Order.

Jedi were supposed to be selfless, but this was truly ridiculous.

The door opened behind him. "Sorry for not knocking, but my hands are full," Meena said. "Wow, are you just sitting in the dark in here?"

"I was thinking," he said.

"I hope I don't trip over you and spill this all over both of us, then." Somehow he could hear her smile. Of course he could hear her smile. It was Meena.

He sighed and reached for the glow panel. A soft radiance filled the room.

Meena was carrying two steaming mugs. "You've been in here all afternoon. I thought you could use some tea, and maybe some company." She looked down, sounding suddenly uncertain. "I mean, if you want company. If you just want to think some more in the dark, I could leave the tea and go."

"Have I? I thought I'd just left Yenaia.... Maybe you're right. Have a seat, Meena."

She smiled at him. "Thanks!" She handed him both mugs to hold, then seated herself gracefully next to him before taking one back. "I haven't seen you much the last few days. Are you okay?"

"That is a surprisingly complicated answer," he said. "Physically? Sure. Every other way? Somewhat less so."

"Can I do anything to help?" Meena looked worried as she peered into her cup. "If you want to talk, I can at least listen."

"Meena, I appreciate the offer, but-"

"I'm serious."

"I'm sure you are," he said, "but I don't know _how_ you could help. I don't even know who I am anymore. Am I Aeron? How much of me? What about Rhade? Is there part of that bastard still in me?"

She shook her head. "You're my friend. You saved me, and Cait, and all of us."

"You're oversimplifying."

"No, I'm not." She met his eyes. "I know terrible things happened to you, and you had no choice. I'm so sorry you had to go through that. But now you have a chance to be who _you_ want to be. People change. They reinvent themselves all the time. I believe in you, because you're my friend. It's really that simple."

He worked his still sore jaw. "Maybe you're right. But when most folks reinvent themselves, as you call it, they're starting from a known quantity. I look back on my entire life and I feel like it started with Yenaia piecing me together. Everything else, _everything..._ it feels like something I saw on the holonet, or read in a story. It doesn't feel like _me...._ I don't even know who 'me' is."

"Well, let's start with something easy." Meena offered him her free hand. "Are you my friend?"

He reached out tentatively and took it. "Yes?"

"You don't sound so sure. Maybe I should be offended."

"I'm not sure you want me to be, Meena. The man who tried to murder you had this face, and I'm still not sure he's gone."

"You don't get to decide that for me," she said, squeezing his hand. "You know, even when no one else believed me, I never gave up on you. I'm not giving up now. So deal with it."

Aeron smiled for the first time in a while. It felt good. "Then, yes. Yes, I am."

***

Cait was off getting another dip in the Kolto tank, and Renn had gone back to the Wanderer for a little while, leaving Kara alone in the infirmary with the the medical droid, or as she had taken to calling it, the torture-bot.

It extended one of its many arms and prodded Kara's foot with a sharp needle.

"Ah!" She yelped and her leg instantly recoiled.

"Wiggle your toes," the droid said.

Kara complied. "If it'll get me out of here faster, I'll even do a little dance," she said irritably.

"That will not be required at this time."

Either the droid truly had no personality, or someone had a wicked sense of humor.

Yenaia entered the medbay and stood patiently to the side as the droid continued its examination of Kara's foot.

"You are recovered," the droid said at last. "Please get dressed and leave the infirmary to free up space for the sick and injured. May the Force be with you." And then it floated away.

"Bedside manner of an irritated gundark," Kara muttered as she rose. She stepped behind a modesty screen and began pulling on her own clothes. She really wanted to go and take a shower. "What can I do for you, Yenaia?"

"I wanted to talk to you about what's happening with the Jedi Order."

"What about it?" Kara asked.

"There are very few of us left. I know that you don't consider yourself a Jedi, but I wondered if... perhaps you might want to stay? Your... husband would be welcome to remain with you, of course."

Kara took a deep breath. She'd been afraid something like this was coming.

"Yenaia, I'm flattered...."

"But it isn't your path?"

"No," Kara said, relieved that she heard understanding in Yenaia's Song. "It's an intriguing idea, but I know the path before my feet leads away from this world. Can you understand that?"

"Yes," Yenaia said with a sigh, "I can." She smiled sadly. "I wish I had a choice, too, to be honest."

"You do," Kara said. "I can Hear it. You want to run, to let the burden fall on someone else. But the choice to take up the role of Grand Master isn't the choice I mean."

"Then what choice is it?"

Kara, fully dressed now, stepped back out from behind the screen, fastening her weapons belt around her waist. "To reshape the Order. Learn from the wisdom of the Masters, yes. But you can choose not to repeat their mistakes. An Order, by its very nature, is rules and dogma. The Force doesn't fall so neatly into those lines. The Force is life, growth and change."

"You remind me of something my Master told me once, years ago," Yenaia said thoughtfully. "As a healer, you connect with the Force and with those you heal on a fundamental level. You connect directly with the energy of life itself. You cannot cut yourself off from it."

"Which is why I think you are exactly where you should be," Kara said with a smile. "Trust yourself, trust the Force... but always remember, life is life. You have to live it to understand it."

Yenaia nodded. "I will do my best."

Kara put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Then you'll be just fine."

***

They wound up remaining at the Jedi Temple for several months in the end, even Tihaar and Rukka. Long enough for wounds to heal, for repairs to be made, and for the Republic Senate to finally repeal their fugitive status, after some badgering from Yenaia.

By now, Renn was starting to feel a little stir-crazy at having been stuck planetside for so long. It had been okay at first. Yenaia had given him and Kara a guest room in the Temple, and he'd kept busy helping the Jedi sort out some of the encrypted files in the archives.

But he missed the stars. He missed the rattle and hum of the Wanderer around him. When Liana had taken him and Kara aside the other day to tell them she wanted to leave soon, he'd been relieved.

Of course, there were a couple of complications to sort out before they could leave.

The Wanderer still had the little bomber taking up most of its cargo bay. Which Liana had mentioned to Tihaar, whose eyes lit up. "I didn't think you still had my baby," he said.

Liana rolled her eyes and held up the activation key. "You know, my husband bought it. It's technically mine."

"Yeah, but I put blood, sweat and tears into it. I mean, literally."

"I don't want to hear about it. Just take it." She flipped him the key.

That was one problem solved.

Tihaar had also offered another solution, agreeing to take Ori, Meena, Cait and Gat to Nal Yeshu on his way back to Trianii space. Ori would go home, and the others could stay and visit for a little bit, or get passage from there to anywhere else they wanted to go. And the Wanderer wouldn't be crammed full, allowing them to take on some cargo right here on Coruscant and get back to work sooner.

They all planned to leave around the same time. Mostly to make the goodbyes sting a little less. But the agreed-upon day came faster than any of them had anticipated.

Renn looked up at his home as he and his wife entered the docking bay together. "It'll be nice to get back to normal," he said. To finally be airborne again, to get back to work. They hadn't had a real job since Castell, and the less said about that, the better.

Kara leaned against him, her arm around his waist. "It'll be nice when the cargo bay is full. We haven't had a paying job in... I don't even want to think about it," she said, echoing his thoughts aloud.

"Get out of my head, farm girl." He chuckled and kissed her to soften the words. "Don't worry, I already got something lined up. There's a guy I know here on Coruscant who owes me a favor or two."

"More favors, Renn?" Liana asked from behind him.

"Well, how else are we gonna get back into things?" he said, looking at her. "We're technically ex-fugitives now, and we've been out of things too long. We need to rebuild our reputation. I had a contact of mine pull some strings for us."

"So," Aeron asked, entering the docking bay with a bag slung over his shoulder, "what do Renn's leads have us hauling?"

Renn stiffened and glared at him. Almost reflexively, his arm tightened around Kara's shoulders. Liana had felt sorry for the Jedi — former Jedi, whatever the hell he was now — and had offered him a place aboard the ship again if he wanted it. At least in Renn's mind, that was the third complication.

He made no secret that he didn't like it. Yes, he trusted Kara's judgment, and she said Aeron was safe now, but he couldn't help himself. It had taken him a long time for him to trust Aeron the first time. Then he'd had stabbed them all in the back. Renn couldn't forgive that so easily, not after everything that had happened. Not after almost losing Kara because of him.

Liana put a hand on his shoulder. "Be nice, Renn. Please?"

"Fine." He sighed. "Nobody shoot me, but we're going back to Castell."

"Renn, that isn't funny," Liana said.

"It's not a joke, Captain. It's a government contract. Relief supplies and aid from the Republic government. Everything's above board. We'll load up the supplies here on Coruscant and drop them on Castell. It doesn't pay a lot, but fuel's included in the payment, and, well...." His voice trailed off. It felt right. That was what he'd been about to say, but that sounded too much like Jedi rambling. "It's enough to get us started again, at least."

"I like it," Kara said. "It's a good deed, and it just feels right to begin again where we left off."

After a moment, Liana nodded her approval. "I agree. It does feel right."

"Besides," Aeron added, "who knows, maybe the cargo we were supposed to load is still there."

"I doubt that." Renn rolled his eyes.

Aeron's response was cut off by the arrival of the others. Cait, Gat, Meena and Ori all emerged from the Temple into the docking bay. They were trailed by Yenaia and Rukka, and finally Tihaar.

They were mostly empty-handed. They must have already stowed their gear on Tihaar's ship. It was almost time to go, then.

"Rennie!" Meena came over and hugged him tightly. "Guess what?!"

"Ow, what?" he said.

Her eyes were sparkling. "I've got an audition!"

"Huh?"

"Gat got me an audition in a few months' time! With the Stareyn Troupe!"

Renn looked at Gat over Meena's head. The Mandalorian shrugged. "What? I know people, too," he said.

Meena let go of Renn and hugged Kara next. "You guys better keep in touch, okay? I don't want it to be years and years before we talk again."

"It won't, it won't." Kara laughed.

Tihaar looked at Liana and very clearly failed to say something. Liana failed to say something right back. He just nodded and turned to Rukka to cover the heavy silence. "Rukka, where's your bag?"

"I'm staying," Rukka said. "Master Yenaia offered to train me. I want to stay. I want to study. I want to be a Jedi and serve the light." He glanced at Kara. "The _true_ light."

Kara grinned. "I think that's a good idea."

Yenaia placed a hand on her new student's shoulder. "As do I. We need all the Jedi we can get, and Rukka has the soul of a Knight." She glanced at Tihaar. "Once we smooth off his rougher edges."

"What?" TIhaar asked in mock-hurt.

Liana put a hand on her nephew's shoulder, ignoring Tihaar. "Rukka, would you like me to send a message home for you?"

The boy shook his head. "No, I want to tell mother and grandmother myself," he said firmly. "I- I think they'll be proud of me."

She smiled and pulled him into a hug. "I know I am," she said, stroking his fur.

Yenaia looked at Cait. "I meant to speak to you earlier. I wanted to extend the same offer to you as well."

Cait glanced over to Meena. "Maybe later, but not right now. First, I need to tend to matters at home, and then... I really need to get married."

Renn looked at Meena, eyebrow raised.

"It won't be right away," Meena said. "We both need some time first. But, yes, in a little while."

"Congratulations!" Kara cried and threw herself into Meena's arms, almost tackling her and Renn simultaneously.

Meena giggled and hugged both of them back. "I'm gonna make you wear a fancy dress at _my_ wedding, at least."

As Kara laughed, Ori came up to the three of them and wrapped them all in a single, brief hug. Renn wouldn't swear to it, but he thought he saw a tear work its way down from his mother's good eye.

Ori released them, and went over to stand by the ramp to Tihaar's ship.

Kara extricated herself from them and went over to Ori, placing one hand on her shoulder. Ori said something to her that Renn couldn't hear.

Before he could wander over to find out what that was about, Cait and Gat intercepted him.

"See ya around, Falani."

"See ya, Gat." They traded firm grips.

Renn turned to Cait next. "You take good care of Meena. She's a sister to me in every way that matters."

Cait actually bowed. "I will."

Kara came back over to them, blushing furiously. "Hell, what did she say to you, farm girl?" Renn asked, but she wouldn't answer. She just shook her head and blushed harder.

Renn left Kara to make her own goodbyes to her Mandalorian kin and made his way over to his mother. "So... why is my wife blushing this time?"

Ori grinned at him. "Are you really sure you want to ask me that question?"

Renn chuckled. "Knowing you, not really." He hugged her.

"Damn it," she said into his hair, "why do we keep saying goodbye?"

"It doesn't have to be goodbye. You could always come with us. I'm sure Liana wouldn't mind."

"Yeah, right." Ori laughed. "I still got a bar to run, hopefully." She stepped out of the hug and ruffled his hair, just like he was ten again. "Don't be a stranger, kiddo, all right? Comm me once in awhile."

"I promise." He smirked. "I'll even call when we're _not_ in trouble for a change of pace."

"That would be nice," she said with a grin. "These sudden 'go bail out my kid' jaunts are really doing a number on my bottom line." She mussed his hair one last time. Then she stepped away with a nod and started up the ramp. Halfway up, she paused. "And, Tae? Grandkids. While I'm young enough to enjoy them, please?"

"Mom! We haven't even talked about that yet!"

"Hence the prod. See ya around, kiddo." And she went up into the ship with a wave.

Renn shook his head and started back toward the Wanderer. Meena had Aeron cornered by the base of the ramp nearby.

"You keep in touch, too, okay?" she was saying as Renn got close enough to overhear. She gave Aeron a stern look.

"I will," Aeron promised.

Meena suddenly teared up and flung her arms tight about him, crying.

Aeron stood rigid in shock. That was the face of a man who had no idea what to do with the woman crying in his arms. Renn knew that face well. He still didn't trust Aeron, but that didn't mean he couldn't sympathize a little.

After a moment, Meena stepped back from him and wiped her eyes. She put her hands on his shoulders. "You missed Renn and Kara's wedding," she said, shaking him a little, "but you'd _better_ not miss mine! You hear me?!"

Aeron blinked. "Wait, they already got _married?!"_ He looked up at Renn. "Congratulations!"

"Uh... thanks?" Renn said.

Meena blinked at Aeron. "You seriously didn't know?!"

Aeron shook his head.

Meena rolled her eyes, and then let Aeron go. She hugged Renn tightly again. "You call me anytime you need anything. And be good, okay, Rennie?"

"When have I ever, Meenie?" he said with a smirk. She grinned at him, then kissed him on the cheek before she headed back to Cait's side.

Yenaia approached Aeron then, and touched his arm lightly. "I won't ask again, I promise," she said. "Just know that you'll always have a place here, if and when you want it. If you ever need my help, you have only to call."

"You do have nice archives," he admitted airly. "Maybe someday, Yenaia. But I need to put my own house in order first." He pointed to his head with a self-deprecating smile, then he straightened. "May the Force be with you."

She bowed. "And with you. May it be with you all."

As Cait and Meena made their way, hand in hand, to Tihaar's ship and up the ramp, followed by Gat, Kara came back to Renn's side. She wrapped an arm around his waist again and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I hate goodbyes," she said.

"I know," he said, putting his arm around her. "But goodbye's not the end. We'll bump into each other again down the road."

"Maybe," she sighed.

"Not maybe. Definitely. Have a little faith, farm girl." He kissed her, and gently turned her toward the waiting ramp of the Wanderer. "Let's go home."

***

The young Grand Master of the Jedi Order watched the two ships rise into the sky for as long as she could. Far up into the clouds, until they vanished into the blue, and the beyond.

When they were out of sight, she looked at her new student, standing with her. Strangely, though she was supposed to be his teacher, they were nearly the same age.

"I wonder," she asked, "will we ever see them again?"

"We will," Rukka said, considering his words carefully. "I'm sure of it."

She smiled. "How are you so certain?"

"Master Yenaia, we're Jedi. Or at least we will be. Our job is to head into trouble. But they're outcasts. Their job is to get into trouble in the first place."


	11. Epilogue

The glorious feeling of freedom, the spiraling grace of nature's beauty and the smell of clean mountain air. Kara Tao Vanden absorbed them all as she strolled sedately through the long wild grass of the valley above her former home.

It had been most of a decade since she had walked these paths, since she had left this place as a lost and angry girl. She had returned older, a bit wiser, and a bit more at peace.

Now, her husband walked beside her. As ever, Renn was the planner. He'd thought to grab their heavier coats before they left the ship, and she was grateful for it now as she shivered against the cold wind, cinching hers a bit tighter.

Time was, she could have told you what the weather in these mountains would be just from the taste of the air. She'd lost her touch after all these years in space.

All these years.... When she'd first met Renn and Liana, Derra IV had been a regular stop for them on their rounds of the galaxy. Yet, oddly, they had never returned. Not after that trip back to confront Venaar, at least. They'd never spoken of it; it had simply dropped from their itineraries.

Maybe it had been to spare Kara the memories of their encounter with the Silence, or maybe Renn. But in all that time, this was their first trip back.

Kara had not been able to explain why they needed to be here today. She didn't quite know herself.

"Credit for your thoughts?" Renn asked, taking her hand in his.

"I'm not sure I want to go over the next hill. Part of me needs to, but part of me doesn't want to see how it's changed, how the farm's been... erased."

"That's kind of how I felt, taking you around Nal Yeshu," he said. "But we did it, and I'm glad we did."

She smiled, but it faded quickly. "I'm not even sure why I wanted to come back. Just a feeling, a strong impulse in the Music.... I'm sorry I caused so much trouble."

Renn laughed. "Trouble? I knew you were trouble when you walked into that bar in Othani, farm girl."

She stopped walking and turned to arch an eyebrow at him. "And yet, you talked to me anyway, spacer boy. Makes everything that followed your fault, too."

"Hey, _you_ came over and talked to _me."_ Renn smirked and pulled her into his arms.

"I took pity on you," Kara said, looking up at him slightly through her lashes. "The barkeep said you needed the job."

"Oh, really? Remind me to thank him." He leaned in to kiss her, and she slid her arms around his neck.

"Ewwww," came a small, giggling voice from behind them.

Renn broke the kiss with a long-suffering sigh. He met Kara's gaze, then rolled his eyes. "That's enough out of you, kiddo," he said, turning and swooping down to pick up the dark-haired little girl sitting in the grass nearby, bundled up in a heavy jacket of her own. She squealed with delight as Renn lifted her.

The wyvern, perched on the girl's head, squawked in protest at being displaced. He fluttered over to settle on Kara's shoulder with a trilling sound.

A wide smile revealed dimples in the child's cheeks, and her green eyes sparkled. "Daddy!" She hugged his neck.

Renn was trying to look stern, but her husband visibly melted before this onslaught. He kissed the little girl's cheek instead, starting her giggling again, before he settled her in his arms.

He never had a chance, Kara thought, smiling to herself as they started walking again. Their daughter had wrapped him around her little finger from the moment she was born, a little over five years ago. Renn had taken to fatherhood surprisingly well.

Julya Ket Vanden, or Jules, as Renn had nicknamed her, had changed so much about their lives. But then, Kara thought, everyone's lives had changed over the years.

Meena, Cait, and Gat — with no small amount of help from Ori — had not only freed Count Rook from prison, they had helped with efforts to force the Republic to renegotiate the crushing treaty that had ended the Mandalorian War. Food and relief supplies now flowed into Mandalorian space, and Mandalore had finally become a recognized member of the Republic.

A few years ago, Meena and Cait had joined the Stareyn Dance Troupe, Meena as a dancer and Cait as head of security. They'd been touring with them ever since. Renn had covered one wall of their quarters with holoprints sent by the pair at each stop they made.

Ori returned to Nal Yeshu to discover that her bar was not only still solvent, but was thriving. She and Wagner had actually become business partners.

Rukka was due to undergo his Jedi Trials any time now. Liana's pride in her nephew was obvious to any and all, but oddly dwarfed by Tihaar's. Perhaps it wasn't such a mystery, though; it was Tihaar, after all.

Liana had also reconnected with her mother and kin on Ekibo. It turned out that ships owned and operated by Trianii captains could ignore several import duties on material brought into Tiranii space. Renn's little off-hand mention of their business at Sayarre's political dinner had developed into a major profit for the Wanderer's crew.

Of course, their Captain was just pleased that the ship was fueled and in good repair, that they still got to see new places. She was quite content with her family, with being "Granna Liana," as Jules called her.

Of them all, though, perhaps the greatest change had taken place in Aeron. Fearful of what he could become again, he had sealed himself away from the Force for a time, forgoing his former identities altogether. He had been a man at a loss for what his life meant, until the day Jules was born.

Like all the crew of the Wanderer, Aeron had marveled at their newest member, the frail life that had come into their world. But, in that moment, Kara had sensed a crossroads reached. With a wordless look at her husband, they had agreed.

"Aeron," Renn began, hesitant. It had been a long, slow road between the two men. Neither had been quick to trust or believe in the other, and they had never quite gotten back to the comfortable almost-friendship they'd found before.

But in that moment, years after the damage had been done, their daughter was the final bridge that spanned that gulf. "She's going to be very strong in the Music, in the Force. Of course, Kara will teach her what she can, but... _we_ would both be honored if you would teach her as well."

And so Aeron had finally come full circle, and found himself anew. Being "Uncle Aeron" seemed to suit him well. He smiled more, even laughed on occasion.

The Jedi was happy and at peace.

And speaking of the Jedi, Yenaia's students had grown in number. A young man from Derra IV, Daj's son no less, had tuned up with a glowing green kyber crystal. Soon after, there had come a young Nautolan girl and a Bhardeshi street thief who both had crystals that glowed blue.

Selene's legacy had resulted in new Jedi, new Knights for an Order that desperately needed them. Yenaia reported that all but a very few Jedi — mostly the old and infirm, or the very young and untrained — had been caught up in Kell's madness and 'converted'. The Jedi currently numbered less than two dozen altogether. Most of them remained at the main Temple on Coruscant for now, pooling their knowledge and resources to focus on the future.

"Mommy, look!" Jules cried in wonder. "Big wyvvies!"

Kara had been so caught up in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed that they had, indeed, crested that last hill. Below them stretched a grassy field full of... gliderwings.

Most of them were young, perhaps a dozen years old or less. But one massive male was old as the hills. He creakily raised his head and peered, nearly sightless, at Kara's family.

Her heart leapt into her throat and lodged there. She sprinted down the hill to the side of the great beast and buried her face in his soft, downy feathers. Her oldest friend. Her gliderwing.

_I've missed you, my featherless fledgling,_ he Sang in her mind. _I am glad to see you after so long._

_I missed you, too! I didn't expect... I thought surely you'd be gone by now._

_Nearly,_ he Sang. _Had you come even in the next moon, I would not have been here. It is the way of things._

Renn made his way carefully down the hill after Kara. When he got close, though, their daughter started squirming out of his grasp. He had to put her down before he dropped her.

"Jules!" He tried to scold her, but she wasn't listening.

Eyes wide, the little girl approached the great gliderwing. She hugged her mother's leg, not afraid, but intimidated by the sheer size of Kara's old friend. "Mommy," she whispered, "they're really loud."

Tears in her eyes, Kara laughed and dropped one hand affectionately to her daughter's hair. "Yes, they can be."

The great gliderwing considered Jules as she looked up at him in awe.

_Is this your fledgling?_ he asked.

_She is,_ Kara Sang.

With tremendous effort, he lowered his head until his eyes were at nearly the same level as the child's. _Welcome, little Singer. Would you like to go flying? Your mother used to go flying with me all the time._

Jules let go of Kara's leg. "Please, Mommy? Can I? Please?"

"Wait, what?" Renn asked, his voice wary. Of course, he couldn't hear any of their unspoken conversation. He had no idea what was being 'said' in the Music.

"He offered to take Jules flying," Kara said.

"This is one of those things you're going to insist is fine, even though it scares the hell out of me, isn't it?"

"Renn, you've _done it,_ remember?"

"I've done a lot of stupid things. That doesn't mean I want our daughter doing them, too."

"They won't let her fall," Kara said warmly. Her eyes twinkled just a bit. "Trust me, she'll be safer flying with them than flying with you at the controls."

"Hey, I am _not_ that bad."

Jules seemed to sense her opportunity, because she turned her pleading eyes on her father now. "Please, Daddy?"

Renn sighed and crouched down to ruffle her dark hair. "All right. But be careful, okay? Listen to what Mommy tells you."

Their daughter nodded vigorously. "I promise, Daddy!"

_I cannot fly any longer,_ the great gliderwing Sang, _but I will call one of my flock who is of a good size for her, and a calm enough nature for your mate's peace of mind._

A gliderwing roughly half the size of a speeder walked forward from where it had been engaged in what passed for conversation among their kind with the wyvern. All parties involved seemed quite surprised by the existence of one another.

The younger gliderwing Sang with the elder, and then lowered himself to lay on the ground. Kara helped Jules clamber onto his back, and showed her where to hold on, and where not to. Then she backed away, giving the gliderwing room.

With a mighty leap and a beating of wings, they were aloft and sailing into the sky on peals of Jules's laughter.

Renn wrapped an arm around Kara, and they watched her go with mixed joy and worry, as was their nature.

_My heart is full to have seen you again,_ the great gliderwing Sang, _but it was not only I who called you here. Follow._ And he ponderously rose on his quivering legs and trudged up a small rise and through a thin screen of trees. They followed.

On the other side, facing the southern horizon, were four graves. Kara froze when she saw them, a hand going to her mouth in shock, sadness and gratitude.

Between the graves, and just before each headstone, grew wild flowers with petals in every shade and hue, filling the air with their gentle scents.

"Your parents?" Renn asked in a hushed whisper.

Kara nodded slowly. "And Selene and Kirennan."

She walked between them, careful not to tread on the flowers, and knelt between the graves of her parents.

The gliderwing slowly withdrew a short way, to give them some privacy.

Renn stayed a respectful distance behind her. "I'm sorry, Kara. I wish I could've met them. Do you think... would they have approved? Of us?"

"I think they would have," she said. "Though my father would have tried to scare you off any number of times."

The soft shimmer in the Music then did not surprise Kara. Renn's startled reaction to it, however, did.

"They are proud of you both. As am I," Selene's ghost said.

Renn stared at the apparition in shock. "Um, Kara? What-?"

"Be at ease, Renn Tao Vanden," Selene said. "I am... what is left of Kara's grandmother, Selene. You are aware of me because of your Force bond with Kara, but it can only happen in this place, where my power is strongest."

"Right," Renn said. "I'm used to weird things happening around Kara and our daughter, but this is... new. Ma'am."

Selene smiled at him, then. "Mairi and Sten do approve of you, young man," she said. "You have brought our Kara immeasurable happiness, and what parent would want any less for their child?"

Renn bowed his head in respect. "Thank you. That's all I want, to make her happy."

Selene nodded her approval. "I brought you both here because the last of my legacy remains unclaimed. I have been saving it for someone with a special destiny. Now, I think, is the time to bestow it."

A sudden warmth at her hip made Kara open the pouch she'd worn there for years. The last kyber crystal — the one that had stubbornly remained with her all this time — floated free, kindled a brilliant gold.

Selene gestured to the grassy mound that had once been her home, Kara realized, and several small bits of metal rose through the turf. They flew to Selene and orbited the final crystal, slotting into tighter and tighter revolutions until, at last, the final piece clicked into place.

A lightsaber.

"This is for your daughter. She shall have great need of it in time. Until then—" Selene gestured and the weapon floated over to Renn, "—I trust _you_ will keep it safe until you judge it proper that she should come into her own?"

"I wish she wouldn't need it," he said, although he reached out and took it all the same.

"That," Selene said with a small smile, "is the nature of all good parents. But she is the daughter of you both. Do you truly believe she will not do great things one day?"

Renn looked at Kara, and they both nodded, though not without a heavy sigh on Renn's part. He stowed the lightsaber in the bag he'd brought with him. Jules wasn't nearly ready for that yet. They both knew it.

The great gliderwing Sang softly, _The fledglings return._

Landing in the clearing below the rise, Jules clambered down from her new friend's back. She paused a moment to give his beaked muzzle a fond hug that rent Kara's heart with memory. Then she walked up the rise and into the little grove with as much reverence as a five-year-old could muster.

Jules stopped by her father's side, blinking at Selene. "Are you my great-granna?"

"I am, child," Selene said.

The little girl took a few more steps forward and hugged Selene's ghost. Her little hands met the specter's insubstantial form, and encountered something unexpectedly solid.

_The faith of a child is truly the greatest power in the world,_ the old gliderwing Sang.

"Thank you," Jules said, tears in her eyes. "Thank you for my mommy."

Tears stung Kara's eyes just as quickly. Before she knew it, she was there, too, hugging her daughter, and Selene rested a now-solid, loving hand on Kara's shoulder, a miracle brought about by her child's faith.

***

Later that evening, Kara's little family slowly walked back up the path to where the Wanderer waited. Jules had the wyvern perched on her head once more, and a perfect gliderwing feather as long as her arm in tow. Renn had a datapad full of holos of the three of them that he'd taken during the day.

When they boarded the ship, Jules immediately ran off to show Granna Liana and Uncle Aeron her feather, and probably to tell them all about her adventure flying. Renn also split off to go stash Jules' lightsaber where she wouldn't find it... for a while at least.

Kara set about making herself a nice cup of tea, but was interrupted by Renn's sudden return.

"Kara? You've gotta come see this," he said. He sounded shocked.

"What is it?!" she asked.

"Just come with me." He took her hand and almost dragged her back to their bedroom.

Everything was as they'd left it. The wyvern's perch, Jules' bunk, and theirs; the shelf that held all their pictures and mementos, including the jar of soil from her farm. That soil had once held a single flower, a flower that had been crushed several years earlier and never bloomed again.

Kara stepped toward it, looking at it in wonder.

Now, it held three new flowers, each a different color.

As if on a mountain breeze, Kara heard the Song of her oldest friend.

_It is the way of things, child. The way of the Music. Our parts in the great Song must some day end, fading into the melody so that new voices may arise and take up the Song._

_But though our voices fade, the Song will go on, into the endless reaches of time._

From behind her, Renn folded her in his arms, and she leaned back gratefully into his embrace. He always knew just what she needed.

"You okay?" he asked, close to her ear.

She nodded. Maybe Selene was right and there would be new fires and times of struggle ahead, but that was tomorrow's worry. Today, her little family was here, and whole, and well. She was more than okay.

Kara Tao Vanden was truly, deliriously happy.


End file.
